Gerd Wagner

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Gerd Wagner (born May 19, 1942 in Wallern , Sudetenland ; † September 17, 1997 near Bugojno , Bosnia and Herzegovina ) was a German diplomat and was considered a specialist in nuclear arms control . As the successor to Michael Steiner, he was Deputy High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina , the Spaniard Carlos Westendorp , in Sarajevo for three months .

Wagner studied English and German at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and in 1973 at Ernest Schanzer at the Faculty with a thesis on natural symbol and myth of nature in the modern English novel to Dr. phil. PhD.

He joined the Foreign Service in 1971 and worked first in Bordeaux , then from 1971 to 1977 ( Tito's reign ) as a press attaché in Belgrade and later in the Political Department in Beirut . From 1984 to 1987 he worked at the German embassy in Washington and then in the NATO department in Bonn. In 1989 he submitted a leave of absence and from 1989 to 1991 was a foreign policy advisor to the SPD parliamentary group . Afterwards he was again in Bonn and in 1994 he became head of the Political Department in Washington, D. C. In October 1996 he was representative of the Federal Republic of Germany in the contact group for Bosnia .

In 1997 he - Deputy High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina - was one of twelve people (including five Germans) who died in an SFOR helicopter crash in Bosnia. The former Soviet helicopter of the type MI-8 with Ukrainian crew, on the way from Sarajevo to Bugojno , got caught in a fog bank while flying over a mountain range . Only the crew survived the accident, the impact set the additional tank in the passenger compartment on fire and the escape rooms could not be used. The accident triggered worldwide, emotionally charged reporting. The funeral took place in the Catholic Church in Sarajevo a. a. with the participation of the Federal Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel , the NATO Commander-in-Chief Wesley Clark and the Commanding General of SFOR Eric K. Shinseki .

In memory of the diplomats Joseph J. Kruzel , an American who had an accident in 1995, and Gerd Wagner, the leadership academy of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg founded the annual Kurzel Wagner Memorial Lecture .

Wagner, who spoke Serbo-Croatian fluently , was married and the father of three children.

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personal data
SURNAME Wagner, Gerd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Wallern , Sudetenland
DATE OF DEATH 17th September 1997
Place of death near Bugojno , Bosnia and Herzegovina