Walter Behrendt

Walter Behrendt ( born September 18, 1914 in Dortmund, † July 23, 1997 ) was a German Social Democratic politician. From 1971 to 1973 he was President of the European Parliament.

Life and career

Walter Behrendt was born on September 18, 1914 in Dortmund, the son of a miner. He attended elementary school; a long and serious illness of the mother prevented a higher education. After a commercial apprenticeship Behrendt is formed on a fünfsemestriges seminar studies as an accountant. He took from 1939 to 1944 as a soldier in World War II and became part recently as Sergeant of Army Defence Battalion in French captivity, from which he was discharged in 1945. From 1949 to 1954 Behrendt worked as an industrial clerk. In 1954 he became a member of the working paper of the Hoesch Westfalenhütte AG in Dortmund. He was for a time a member of the Supervisory Board of Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG and Dortmund Harbour and Railway AG.

He joined in 1948 the free religious community in Dortmund, he was also a member of the Masonic Lodge Dortmund to the old lime tree. He had a daughter. Walter Behrend died on 23 July 1997 at the age of 82 years in Dortmund.

Party

After he had previously belonged already to the Young Socialist Workers and the Workers Sports Club, Behrendt joined in 1932 the SPD. From 1945 to 1947 he was chairman of the Young Socialists for the Dortmund, Lünen and Castrop -Rauxel area. 1951/52, Behrendt was a local leader of the SPD Dortmund- Altenderne. From 1952 on, he spent three years as district chairman of the Dortmund SPD. From 1970 to 1971 he was again sub-district chairman of the SPD Dortmund.

Member of Parliament

From 1952 until his death Behrendt was a member of the city council of Dortmund.

The German Bundestag, he belonged to the federal election of 1957 to 1976. He represented the electoral district of Dortmund III in Parliament. From 1961 to January 26, 1967, he was Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for work.

On January 26, 1967 Walter Behrendt was appointed as successor to Kate Strobel in the European Parliament, where he was in 1970 elected Vice-President. In March 1971 he was elected with the votes of the Socialists, Liberals and Gaullists as President of the European Parliament. After two years in office he was elected again as vice president and held that office until his resignation from the European Parliament on 19 January 1977.

Honors

Walter Behrendt was founded in 1968 with the Order of Merit 1st class of the Federal Republic of Germany, in 1976 awarded in 1973 with the Great Cross of Merit with the Grand Cross of Merit with Star. The city of Dortmund in 1979 awarded him the honorary ring of the city. Since 2003, a street in the district of Dortmund Derne is named after Walter Behrendt.