German politician

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. 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.

Political career

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

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.

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