Gustav Altenhain

After World War II, Altenhain was a deputy member of the Zonal Advisory Council in the British zone of occupation, while also serving as the Bürgermeister (mayor) of Haßlinghausen in 1945 and 1946. He was again a member of the municipal and district councils from 1945, and of the appointed provincial parliament (Landtag) from 1946. He was involved in the creation of the Liberal Democratic Party in Westphalia, which on 7 January 1946 in Opladen led to the formation of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). At its founding congress, he was elected as one of six federal vice-chairmen, confirmed in June 1947. He also became the chairman of the FDP association in Westphalia and, upon its formation in May 1947, chairman of the FDP association of North Rhine-Westphalia. However, this role was short-lived as he was seen too left wing, and he was replaced in August 1947 by Friedrich Middelhauve. He was elected as a deputy to the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia at the first election in April 1947 and reelected in 1950 and 1954. Overall, he served as a deputy in the provincial parliaments from 2 October 1946 until 12 July 1958.^[1] He was deputy chairman for some years, and vice chair of the Personnel Committee and vice chair of the Committee on Budget and Finance from 1950 to 1955.

From early 1952, Alterhain belonged to an intra-party group led by Carl Wirths and Karl Schneider, which sharply criticized the policy course pursued by Middelhauve and Ernst Achenbach. From 1950 to 1954, he was also second vice-president of the Landtag and, from 1953 to 1964, served as a member of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association, in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. Alterhain died at Gevelsberg in December 1968.^[1]

• 50 Jahre Landtag Nordrhein-Westfalen. Das Land und seine Abgeordneten. Düsseldorf 1996.