in 1969, schwan married her first husband, professor alexander schwan, with whom she had two children and who died in 1989. in 2004, gesine schwan celebrated her second wedding with longtime companion peter eigen in berlin. he is a former world bank manager as well as a founder and current chair of the advisory council of transparency international. 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. she has given numerous presentations on this topic.