Willy Brandt

Willy Brandt (December 18, 1913 – October 8, 1992) was a German politician and Chancellor of Germany from 1969 to 1974. The left social democrat received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for his work in improving relations with the German Democratic Republic, Poland and the Soviet Union, but is controversial in Germany because of his Ostpolitik (relations with Eastern Europe and Russia) and had to resign after an espionage scandal.

Mayor of Berlin, Foreign Minister, Chancellor

In late 1946 he returned to Berlin, working for the Norwegian government.

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In 1948 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in Berlin. He became a German citizen again and formally adopted his pseudonym as his legal name. Outspoken against the Soviet oppression of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and against Khrushchev's 1958 proposal that Berlin receive the status of a "free city", he was considered to belong to the right wing of his party, an assessment that would later change. He was supported by the powerful publisher Axel Springer. From October 3 1957 to 1966 he was Mayor of West Berlin, a particularly stressful time for the city with the construction of the Berlin Wall.

Related Topics:
1948 - Social Democratic Party of Germany - 1956 Hungarian Revolution - Khrushchev's - 1958 - Axel Springer - October 3 - 1957 - 1966 - West Berlin - Berlin Wall

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He became chairman of the SPD in 1964 (a post he retained until 1987).

Related Topics:
1964 - 1987

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He was the SPD candidate for Chancellor in 1961 and lost to Konrad Adenauer's conservative CDU. In 1965 he ran again, and lost to the popular Ludwig Erhard. But Erhard's government was short-lived, and in 1966 a grand coalition between the SPD and CDU was formed; Brandt became foreign minister and vice chancellor. After the elections of 1969, again with Brandt as lead candidate, his SPD became stronger and after three weeks of negotiation formed a coalition government with the small liberal FDP. Brandt was elected Chancellor. Brandt's domestic reforms were usually blunted by his coalition partners in the Bundestag or the resistance of local governments (often CDU/CSU). In 1970, he was named TIME magazine's Person of the Year.

Related Topics:
1961 - Konrad Adenauer - CDU - 1965 - Ludwig Erhard - 1966 - 1969 - FDP - TIME - Person of the Year

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In foreign affairs Brandt had more scope to work his Ostpolitik and he was active in creating a rapprochement, of a kind, with the German Democratic Republic and improving relations with the Soviet Union, Poland and other Eastern Bloc countries. A seminal moment was his famous Warschauer Kniefall at the monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the first official apology for Nazi-era politics.

Related Topics:
Ostpolitik - German Democratic Republic - Soviet Union - Poland - Eastern Bloc - Warschauer Kniefall - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising - Nazi

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This policy was widely controversial, and several members of his coalition switched sides. In May 1972, the opposition CDU hoped to have the majority in the Bundestag and demanded a vote on a motion of no confidence (Mißtrauensvotum) in the parliament to remove Brandt and elect a new Chancellor. To everybody's surprise, the vote failed by an extremely narrow margin; much later it was revealed that two members of the CDU had been paid off by the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) in the German Democratic Republic to vote for Brandt. Many Germans considered Brandt's "Ostpolitik" illegal and high treason.

Related Topics:
1972 - Bundestag - Motion of no confidence - Ministry for State Security (Stasi) - German Democratic Republic

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Brandt's policy of dialogue with Communist countries, however, helped break open the siege mentality of the Eastern Bloc and increase the awareness of the contradictions in real-life communism/socialism, and - together with other events - eventually led to its downfall. And while Brandt was anathema to many in Germany's postwar establishment, he and his motto mehr Demokratie wagen ("dare more democracy") were extremely popular with the young generation and led his SPD party to its best-ever federal election result in late 1972.

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To counter any notions about being sympathetic to communism, Brandt implemented tough legislation that barred "radicals" from public service ("Radikalenerlass"). Although that legislation theoretically applied to extremists from both the left and right, it was almost exclusively applied to people considered to be leftist extremists.

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