Career
In 1923 Brauer was mayor of the independent city of Altona. Brauer fled the Nazi regime to the United States in 1933 with a passport of a friend. In 1934 Brauer"s German citizenship was revoked and he maintained the United States. citizenship.
In July 1946 he came back to Hamburg working for the American Federation of Labor.
In October 1946 after the election of the Hamburg Parliament, Brauer was elected as the First Mayor of Hamburg. After Brauer complained in a letter to the British forces about the supply shortfall in Hamburg, the British Governor Vaugham H. Berry ordered not to heat the officers" mess until there were a solution.
16 October 1949, the second Hamburg Parliament election took place. Brauers party, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, gets 65 of the 120 seats there.
His new Hamburg government ("Senat Brauer II") starts February 1950.
In October 1953, the next election took place. The Social Democratic Party of Germany got only 58 of the 120 seats. An alliance including the Christian Democratic Union got the other 62 seats.
Kurt Sieveking (Christian Democratic Union) became Brauers successor.
The Senate Sieveking started in December 1953. On 10 November 1957, the Social Democratic Party of Germany got 69 of the 120 seats.
Brauer and his third Senate started working. Brauer had promised to Paul Nevermann (* 1902) that he would succeed him before the end of the term.
The "era Brauer" ended 20 December 1960 with extensive ceremonies.
He did not candidate for the next federal election in 1965. His successor in his electoral ward Hans Apel (1932-2011) became an important Social Democratic Party of Germany politician and minister (finance, defence). Brauer is buried in Altona Main Cemetery.
In 1960, Brauer was given the honorary citizen award of Hamburg.
