The title compound, [ZnCl2 (C5H9NO2)(2)], crystallizes in the centrosymmetric space group C2/c with the Zn atom on a twofold axis. The two proline residues in any one complex thus have the same absolute configuration. Hydrogen bonding links the molecules into linear chains, which run in the crystallographic b direction. The proline residues within any one chain also have an identical absolute configuration.