You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in German. (May 2025)Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, likeDeepL orGoogle Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. Youmust providecopyright attribution in theedit summary accompanying your translation by providing aninterlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary isContent in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Walter Behrendt (Politiker)]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template{{Translated|de|Walter Behrendt (Politiker)}} to thetalk page. For more guidance, seeWikipedia:Translation.

MdB Walter Behrendt MEP
Behrendt in 1972
Member of theBundestag
In office 1957–1976
Constituency	Dortmund III
Vice-President of the European Parliament
In office 1969–1971
In office 1973–1977
9th President of the European Parliament
In office 16 March 1971 – 1973
Preceded by	Mario Scelba
Succeeded by	Cornelis Berkhouwer
Personal details
Born	(1914-09-18)September 18, 1914 Dortmund,German Empire
Died	July 23, 1997(1997-07-23) (aged 82) Dortmund,West Germany
Political party	SPD (1932-1997)

Walter Behrendt (German pronunciation:[ˈvaltɐˈbeːʁɛnt]; 18 September 1914^[1] – 23 July 1997^[2]) was a German politician of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD) and president of theEuropean Parliament (1971–1973).^[3]

Behrendt was trained as amerchant andaccountant.^[4] He took part inWorld War II and afterwards worked as clerk in an industrial firm. In 1954 he became a contributor to the company journal ofHoesch-Westfalenhütte AG inDortmund.^[5] Behrendt joined SPD in 1932 being a member of theSocialist Working Youth (Sozialistische Arbeiterjugend). From 1945 to 1947 he was chairman of the regionalSocialist Youth for Dortmund,Lünen andCastrop-Rauxel. He was chairman of the SPD branch in Dortmund-Altenderne in 1951/52 and in Dortmund from 1952 to 1955.

From 1952 until his death, Behrendt was a municipal councillor in Dortmund. In 1957 he was elected member of theBundestag (electoral constituency: Dortmund III) and remained in office until 1976.^[6] Between 1961 and 1967 he was assistant chairman of the Labour Committee. Additionally, Behrendt was a member of theEuropean Parliament from 1967 to 1977 where he served as vice-president (1969–71, 1973–77) and president (1971–73). He was one of the signers of theHumanist Manifesto in 1973.^[7]

Behrendt was also a member of thesupervisory board ofDortmunder Stadtwerke AG and Dortmunder Hafen und Eisenbahn AG.

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