Hans Hedtoft

This article deals with the Danish Minister of State Hans Hedtoft; for the ship named after him see Hans Hedtoft (ship) .

Hans Hedtoft 1954

Hans Hedtoft Hansen (born April 21, 1903 in Aarhus , † January 29, 1955 in Stockholm ) was a Danish politician and from November 13, 1947 to October 30, 1950 and from September 30, 1953 to January 29, 1955 Danish Minister of State .

Life

Hans Hedtoft was born the youngest of ten siblings. As a tailor, his father had his workshop in the basement and earned a modest living. Hans Hedtoft was never able to get over the early death of his father.

Hedtoft was a good student and began an apprenticeship as a lithographer in his hometown . His political interest was aroused early on, and he became a member of the newly formed Danish Social Democratic Youth (DSU). There he met his future wife Ella. In 1920 he became the first secretary of the youth organization and in 1929 assistant to the Social Democratic Party in Copenhagen. Hans Hedtoft became a member of the Folketing as early as 1935 and, in 1939, succeeded Thorvald Stauning as party chairman.

When the German Wehrmacht invaded Denmark, Hans Hedtoft had to give up his post in 1941. With the end of the Second World War , Hedtoft returned to this position in 1945 and remained chairman of his party until his death.

Following Knud Kristensen's Venstre government, Hans Hedtoft became Minister of State in the Social Democratic minority government in 1947. He worked closely with Hans Christian Hansen and advocated close cooperation between the Nordic countries, but he was unable to achieve a Nordic defense alliance. Instead, Denmark oriented itself westward and in 1949 joined the NATO Atlantic Pact . In 1953 he became the first President of the Nordic Council .

In 1950 he had to give up his office, but returned from 1953 to 1955 as head of government.

Web links

• Literature by and about Hans Hedtoft in the catalog of the German National Library