Gesine Schwan (née Schneider, 22 May 1943) is a German political science professor and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

[1] Born in Berlin on 22 May 1943, Schwan was baptized in the Roman Catholic faith[2] as the daughter of Oberschulrat (Senior School Inspector) Hans R. Schneider.

Schwan is very engaged in German and Polish mutual understanding and therefore supports, in numerous ways, the work of the Freya von Moltke Stiftung for the New Kreisau.

[5] After research stays in Warsaw and Kraków, she obtained her Ph.D. in 1970 from FU Berlin for a dissertation on the Polish philosopher Leszek Kołakowski.

In November 2004, the German government under Gerhard Schröder appointed her to the newly created office of the co-ordinator for cooperation with Poland (her counterpart on the Polish side was then Irena Lipowicz).

Other prominent supporters are: Jacques Delors, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Guy Verhofstadt, Jo Leinen, Andrew Duff, and Elmar Brok.

In the 2019 SPD leadership election, Schwan announced her intention to run for the position as the party's co-chair, together with Ralf Stegner.

[16] Ahead of the 2009 presidential election, Schwan was criticized by the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records, Marianne Birthler, for statements on the political regime of East Germany.