Werner Hansen

Werner Hansen (31 July 1905 – 15 June 1971) was a German Social democratic politician and trades unionist. After 1933 he stayed in Germany for several years undertaking illegal resistance work, and emigrating only in 1937. He was able to return and resume his trades union career in 1945.

Life Werner was born, one of three sons, at Rethem, a small but long established town located between Bremen and Hanover. His father, Heinrich Heidorn, worked for the post office. It is not known when, why or how Werner changed his own family name to Hansen. like him the son of a postal worker.

War ended formally in May 1945, but with the help of the British military Hansen was able to return to Germany in March 1945. He presided over the DGB in the Nordrhein-Westfalen region between 1947 and 1956, unanimously elected to the position on four successive occasions. Between 1953 and 1957 he sat in the West German Bundestag as an SPD member representing the Nordrhein-Westfalen electoral district.