East Berlin, Suitner was married to Marita Wilckens (1924–2008), daughter of the composer FriedrichWilckens [de]. In 1965 he became acquainted with the
Magdalena Wilcken, a gifted soprano and daughter of the court trumpeter of Prince Saxe-Weissenfels. They had 13 children, of whom Johann Christoph Friedrich (the
with Goethe as Gustchen Friedrich Leopold zu Stolberg-Stolberg (1750–1819), poet, lawyer and translator Kurt Gustav Wilckens (1886–1923), militant German