Brunhilde Hanke

Brunhilde Hanke (née Anweiler; born 23 March 1930) is a German retired politician who was mayor of Potsdam and a member of the State Council of East Germany.

Early life

Hanke was born in Erfurt into a working-class family.[1] She completed an apprenticeship as a seamstress in 1947, during which she joined the Free German Trade Union Federation. She soon also became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and its youth organisation, the Free German Youth (FDJ). In 1951–52 she studied at the Komsomol academy in Moscow. She completed a diploma in social sciences at the Parteihochschule Karl Marx in 1962.[2]

Political career

From 1952 until 1963 Hanke was part of the FDJ's central council.[2] Hanke became mayor of Potsdam in 1961. She kept the office until 1984.[3] Afterwards, from 1987, she led the local Kulturbund in Potsdam.[4]

In 1963 Hanke was elected to the Volkskammer. In 1967 she was made a member of the State Council of the GDR, the country's collective head of state. She remained a member of both institutions until 1990.[2]

Hanke was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze in 1974 and in silver in 1979.[4]

References
  1. "Brunhilde Hanke". Munzinger-Archiv (in German). Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  2. Herbst, Andreas; Müller-Enbergs, Helmut. "Hanke, Brunhilde" (in German). Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  3. Schenke, Günter (26 April 2004). "Zwei Oberbürgermeister – zwei Welten". Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  4. Baumgartner, Gabriele; Hebig, Dieter (1996). Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ/DDR (in German). Band 1+2. Munich: K.G. Saur. p. 278. ISBN 9783111699134.
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