Willy Dehnkamp (22 July 1903 – 12 November 1985) 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 For ...

(SPD) who served as the 3rd

President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, which is one of the states of Germany, is governed by the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. The Senate is chaired by the President of the Senate, who is the head of government of the city-state. The P ...

from 1965 to 1967.

Biography

Willy Dehnkamp was born as the son of a workers family in

Hamburg-Altona Altona (), also called Hamburg-Altona, is the westernmost Boroughs and quarters of Hamburg#Boroughs, urban borough (''Bezirk'') of the Germany, German States of Germany, city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to ...

. He wanted to become a seaman but instead trained as a locksmith. At age 16 he became a member of the union of metal workers and shortly later he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Dehnkamp was president of the socialistic youth of Hamburg and took over the leadership of the SPD in the district of Blumenthal. During the municipal elections in 1933 he defeated his NSDAP-candidate. Ten days after publishing the results he was arrested for seven months. After his release from prison Dehnkamp began establishing the underground movement of the SPD which was forbidden during that time. In March 1935 the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

arrested him for 2 years and 9 months. After his release on X-mast 1936 he had to join the army, was wounded and imprisoned for 3.5 years by the Russian army. In 1949 the

Senate of Bremen The Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (German: Senat der Freien Hansestadt Bremen) is the government of the German city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Various senate-like institutions have existed in Bremen since medieval times. Th ...

made him chief officer of Bremen-Blumenthal, followed by the position of Senator of Education on 29 September 1951. Between 26 November 1963 and 19 July 1965 he was mayor and vice-president of the Senate. Succeeding

Wilhelm Kaisen Carl Wilhelm Kaisen (22 May 1887 – 19 December 1979) was a German politician from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who served as the 2nd President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen from 1945 to 1965. In 1958/59 he served as the 10th ...

he became President of the Senate. After the SPD lost its majority in the Senate in 1967 he gave up this position.

Hans Koschnick Hans Koschnick (2 April 1929 – 21 April 2016) was a German politician (SPD) and elder statesman. He was the President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen from 1967 to 1985, the President of the Bundesrat in 1970/71 and 1981/82, and afterwards se ...

followed him in this position. Dehnkamp retreated from politics but stayed a member of the German advisory council of education. Dehnkamp died on 12 November 1985, aged 82, and was buried on the cemetery in Lüssum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dehnkamp, Willi 1903 births 1985 deaths Government ministers of Germany Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Members of the Bürgerschaft of Bremen People from Altona, Hamburg Mayors of Bremen (city)