Hans-Jochen Vogel (3 February 1926 – 26 July 2020) was a German lawyer and a politician for the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

[2] He was not critical of the Nazi regime and later recalled: "… in spite of all my doubts about details it did not occur to me at the time that you can, or even must, resist the State.

"[3]Vogel volunteered for service in the German Army (Wehrmacht) in July 1943, aged 17, in the latter stages of World War II.

[4] On his return from prison camp he worked as a transport worker for a short while, before he was able to study law in Marburg and Munich.

[7] His professional career began in February 1952, when he became a junior official (Assessor) in the Ministry of Justice of Bavaria [de].

[7] The fact that Munich was chosen as the venue of the 1972 Summer Olympics, which had additional beneficial effects on town planning and traffic projects, was to a large extent a result of his efforts.

[13] Although he managed to successfully deal with his party's difficulties to a large extent, the SPD lost the following West Berlin elections, only a few months after Vogel had taken office.

Herbert Wehner, the previous leader of the parliamentary SPD, nominated him as his successor, and Vogel held that office until 1991.

[15] After 1994, Vogel withdrew from political posts, but he continued as a member of the organisation Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie (Against Oblivion – For Democracy), aimed at spreading basic democratic values, as a contrast to Nazi Germany and East German concept.

[16] He received the Heinz Galinsky Prize [de] for promoting a better understanding between the Jewish community in Berlin and its social surroundings in 1998.

[4][17] Originally on the right wing of the SPD,[18] Vogel became more and more liberal in his views,[19] for instance, with regard to the legislation about asylum seekers, referendums, or the protection of personal data (Datenschutz) from the state.

In 1992, he visited twelve successor states of the former Soviet Union, meeting numerous presidents, ministers, but also leaders of the opposition, of the Orthodox Church, and of Islam, which broadened his outlook.

As the chairman of his party's delegates in a parliamentary commission for reviewing the Constitution, he achieved the inclusion of the principles of the protection of the environment and of the promotion of women in society.