German economist and politician
Heinrich Eugen Waentig (21 March 1870 – 22 December 1943) was a German economist and politician.
Waentig was born in Zwickau, Saxony. Between 1888 and 1893, he studied at several universities, including University of Munich, University of Berlin, University of Leipzig, and University of Vienna, earning his doctorate at Leipzig. He later traveled to the United States and East Asia.
In 1895, Waentig completed his habilitation at the University of Marburg and became a Privatdozent. The following year, he was appointed "professor extraordinarius" and later "professor ordinarius" at the University of Greifswald. He subsequently held positions at the University of Münster and the University of Halle.
From 1909 to 1913, Waentig worked in Japan as an advisor to the Meiji government, lecturing in political economics and financial science at the Tokyo Imperial University.
Returning to Germany in 1913, he resumed his academic role at Halle until 1933. He was elected to the Prussian Landtag in 1920 under the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In 1927, he became Oberpräsident of the Province of Saxony and was appointed Prussian Minister of the Interior in 1930. After resigning from the SPD in 1931 due to internal disagreements, he retired from politics.
Waentig died in Baden-Baden, Germany, in 1943.