which after 1990 was the term commonly used in what had been West Germany to identify what had been East Germany between 1949 and 1990. It was always going to be a long job. Thanks to the sweeping scope "land reforms" of 1945/46, there were more than a million Hectares to be managed and, subject to various socially and politically driven criteria, disposed of. First refusal on sales of agricultural land was to be given to existing tenants who were not financially equipped to buy the land, while the long-term nature of the leases in force meant that tenants, having once registered an interest in principal to purchase their farms, were under no pressure from the lengths of the leases to rush off and find the necessary funds. The company, under the leadership of Priesnitz, who quickly became the company's public face in terms of its media interactions, seems to have been relaxed about the situation. (In 2015, when the affected regional governments agreed to extend the "privatization period" until 2030, the disposal process was still far from complete.) He then stayed on at BVVG, elected to chair the supervisory board in 1999, and remaining in that post for eleven years until 2010, at which point his age was given as the reason for his not seeking re-election. He was succeeded by Gert Lindemann. During his final years, almost to the end, he served as chair of the Jakob Kaiser foundation. In paying tribute to Priesnitz directly after he died, the foundation recelled his commitement to the maintenance and further development of its educational institutions in Königswinter und Weimar. Death Walter Priesnitz died at Neuharlingersiel, in the extreme north-west of Germany. He had been able to celebrate his eightieth birthday a few months earlier. Recognition Notes References People from Zabrze People from Ahlen German jurists 20th-century jurists 20th-century German civil servants Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Local politicians in Germany 1932 births 2012 deaths Volkssturm personnel German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union Child soldiers in World War II