Rut Brandt was a German writer of Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 origin and the second wife of the German Chancellor Willy Brandt

Willy Brandt

Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....

.

Life

Born as Rut Hansen in Hamar

Hamar

is a town and municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hedmarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hamar. The municipality of Hamar was separated from Vang as a town and municipality of its own in 1849...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, she worked initially in a bakery in Norway and then as a tailor's apprentice. At age 16, she joined a socialist youth group, which conducted political activities against the German occupation during the Second World War. In 1942, she fled to Sweden with one of her sisters.

In Sweden, she married her Norwegian friend, Ole Olstadt Bergaust, who died in 1946. In 1944, Hansen had met Willy Brandt

Willy Brandt

Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....

, the later German Chancellor, who had fled Germany. After Bergaust's death, Brandt and Hansen married in 1948.

When Willy Brandt became Chancellor in 1969, Rut Brandt was at his side as a very successful and popular First Lady. However, when Brandt in 1979 started an affair with Brigitte Seebacher (later his third wife), Rut Brandt asked for a divorce. After the divorce had been granted (in 1980), Rut and Willy Brandt went their separate ways. When Brandt died in 1992, Brigitte Seebacher-Brandt did not allow Rut to attend the funeral – a decision which did not meet with acceptance in the German population.

Rut Brandt died on 28 July 2006 in Berlin, aged 86, from undisclosed causes.

Family

Willy and Rut Brandt had three children:

• Peter Brandt (born 1948)
• Lars Brandt (born 1951)
• Matthias Brandt (born 1961)

Books by Rut Brandt

• Freundesland. Erinnerungen. (1992) ISBN 978-3455084436
• Wer an wen sein Herz verlor. Begegnungen und Erlebnisse. (2001) ISBN 978-3471794616