SCHUTZHAFT. A term signifying “protective custody” frequently
invoked by the Nazis, Schutzhaft meant in practice the internment
in concentration camps of those deemed enemies of the regime by
the Gestapo. Its origins can be traced to the emergency decree of 28
February 1933 following the Reichstag fire. Further legal refinement
was provided by the jurist and SS official Werner Best.
SCHWANITZ, WOLFGANG (1930– ). The head of the short-lived
Amt für Nationale Sicherheit (AfNS), Wolfgang Schwanitz was
born in Berlin on 26 June 1930, the son of two bank clerks. Trained
as a merchandiser, he joined the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit
(MfS) in 1951 and held a variety of positions. He also attended the
Juristische Hochschule des MfS, writing his 1973 dissertation on
combating signs of subversion among youth. Schwanitz’s reputa-
tion as a staunch MfS loyalist was solidified by his selection as a
deputy minister to Erich Mielke in 1986. Following Mielke’s igno-
minious departure during the tumultuous events of November 1989,
Schwanitz became director of the AfNS, the successor organization
to the MfS, although his credentials as a reformer possessed little
credence for many citizens of the German Democratic Republic. The
dissolution of the AfNS a month later spelled the end of his intelli-
gence career. Following reunification, Schwanitz emerged as a vocal
rebutter to critics of the MfS.
SCHWARTZKOPPEN, MAXIMILIAN VON (1850–1917). A Ger-
man military attaché in Paris who played a central role in the Dreyfus
Affair, Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen was born in Potsdam on
24 February 1850, the son of an old family of Prussian officers. A
veteran of the Franco-Prussian War, he assumed the post of military
attaché in Paris in 1892, assuring Count Georg Münster von Deren-
berg, the German ambassador to France, that no espionage activity
would occur on his watch, quite unlike the practice of his predeces-
sors. When Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy, a French infantry officer,
appeared at the German embassy in July 1894 and offered to sell
highly confidential military information to prevent his family from
financial ruin in return for money, Schwartzkoppen reacted with in-
dignation. Nevertheless, his superiors in Berlin advised him to pursue
the matter, and an agreement was soon reached. Esterhazy’s first
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