Walter Behrendt (18 September 1914 in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is th ...

– 23 July 1997 in Dortmund) was a German politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD) and president of the

European parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

(1971–1973). Behrendt was trained as a

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

and

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certi ...

. He took part in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and afterwards worked as clerk in an industrial firm. In 1954 he became a contributor to the company journal of Hoesch-Westfalenhütte AG in

. Behrendt joined SPD in 1932 being a member of the ''Socialist Working Youth'' (Sozialistische Arbeiterjugend). From 1945 to 1947 he was chairman of the regional ''Socialist Youth'' for Dortmund,

Lünen Lünen is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located north of Dortmund, on both banks of the River Lippe. It is the largest town of the Unna district and part of the Ruhr Area. In 2009 a biogas plant was built to provide electric ...

and

Castrop-Rauxel Castrop-Rauxel (), often simply referred to as Castrop by locals, is a former coal mining city in the eastern part of the Ruhr Area in Germany. Geography Castrop-Rauxel is located in Germany between Dortmund to the southeast, Bochum to the south ...

. He was chairman of the SPD branch in Dortmund-Altenderne in 1951/52 and in Dortmund from 1952 to 1955. From 1952 until his death Behrendt was municipal councillor in Dortmund. In 1957 he was elected member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the German Federalism, federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representat ...

(electoral constituency: Dortmund III) and remained in office until 1976. Between 1961 and 1967 he was assistant chairman of the Labour Committee. Additionally, Behrendt was member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

from 1967 to 1977 where he served as vice-president (1969–71, 1973–77) and president (1971–73). He was one of the signers of the

Humanist Manifesto ''Humanist Manifesto'' is the title of three manifestos laying out a humanist worldview. They are the original '' Humanist Manifesto'' (1933, often referred to as Humanist Manifesto I), the '' Humanist Manifesto II'' (1973), and ''Humanism and ...

in 1973. Behrendt was also member of the

supervisory board In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors. In civil ...

Dortmunder Stadtwerke DSW21 customer center in Kampstraße, in front of Petri church.Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG is a municipal services and public transport company in Dortmund, wholly owned by the city of Dortmund. It is operating under the brand DSW21 since 2005. The ...

AG and Dortmunder Hafen und Eisenbahn AG.

References

1914 births 1997 deaths Politicians from Dortmund Presidents of the European Parliament Social Democratic Party of Germany MEPs MEPs for Germany 1958–1979 Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany {{Germany-MEP-stub