Werner Zehden

Werner Alfred Zehden (born May 2, 1911 in Berlin ; † September 28, 1991 ibid) was a German politician and persecuted by National Socialism . He was the bearer of the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany .

Werner Zehden's grave in the Luther cemetery in Lankwitz (Department Aa-25). Coordinates of the grave: 52 ° 25 ′ 17 "  N , 13 ° 21 ′ 23.7"  E

Life

Zehden was the son of patent attorney Dr. Alfred Zehden and his wife Anna. He had been a member of the SPD since 1933 and after six semesters had to give up his studies in law and economics in Berlin because of alleged “Marxist activities”. From 1944 to 1945 he was categorized as a half-Jew according to National Socialist diction , imprisoned in a labor camp run by the Todt Organization .

He had been married to Agnes Meißner since May 19, 1945 and had two children.

After the war, Zehden initially worked in the management of a chemical company. Between 1951 and 1955 he was the district mayor of Steglitz . From 1955 to 1976 he was administrative director at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin. In 1957 Werner Zehden separated from the SPD and joined the FDP . But in 1959 he returned to the SPD. From 1963 to 1971 he was a member of the Berlin House of Representatives . He was co-founder and chairman of the Association of People Persecuted by the Nazi Regime (BVN).

On May 5, 1976 he was appointed city ​​elder of Berlin . After his death he was given a grave of honor by the city of Berlin in the Lutheran Lutheran cemetery in Berlin-Lankwitz .

Works

• Barbed Wire. A diary. With an introduction by Peter Steinbach . 1st edition, Passau 1990.

literature

• Werner Breunig, Andreas Herbst (ed.): Biographical handbook of the Berlin parliamentarians 1963–1995 and city councilors 1990/1991 (= series of publications of the Berlin State Archives. Volume 19). Landesarchiv Berlin, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-9803303-5-0 , p. 404.