From 1928 until 1930 he was a member of the German Parliament Reichstag (Weimar Republic) for the Communist Party, representing the election region of Cologne-Aachen.
Dautzenberg put together a resistance group in Aachen and Eschweiler, which was broken up by the Gestapo in August 1944.
In the Neuengamme concentration camp, he was subject to medical experimentation that involved exposure to deadly pathogens.
Running as a member of the Communist Party, he was again elected in 1946 to the regional assembly surrounding Aachen.
In 1967, public prosecutors accused him of still working for the outlawed Communist Party, but the courts acquitted him.