When was willy brandt chancellor

He hoped that relations could slowly change through more exchange between individuals, including people living in East Germany. After the Second World War the victorious powers had agreed at the Potsdam Conference that the Oder-Neisse Line named after two rivers would constitute the border.

And so Poland was given a large share of what was formerly German territory, for example Silesia, Pomerania and East Prussia. In the eyes of many German refugees from the East, recognising this border meant losing their homeland for good.

Willy Brandt was convinced that reconciliation with Poland was only possible if Germany no longer called this border into question. During his visit to Warsaw to sign the treaty, he laid a wreath at the memorial to the victims in the Jewish Ghetto Uprising.

The picture of this famous gesture was flashed around the world. Divorce and abortion legislation was reformed, and the voting age reduced from 21 to 18 years. In order to halt the nuclear arms race in the s, Willy Brandt seeks the dialogue with the rulers in the East. In , he resigns the chairmanship of the SPD and becomes its honorary chairman.

When the Berlin Wall falls in and communist dictatorships collapse, his dream is fulfilled. After an extended illness, he dies in Unkel on 8 October This website uses cookies to improve your experience. These cookies serve to collect information about how visitors use our site and to constantly improve our website based on this information.

However inadequate the European institutions might be, they constituted an unavoidable stage and had to be accepted; similarly, the association of Western European nations was to be seen as a step on the way to the long-term goal of a comprehensive, pan-European peaceful order. He was concerned at the limited acceptance of the European endeavour among the general public and in particular among young people. As regards the practical shape to be taken by the unification project, Brandt openly supported the functional, gradual approach to integration.

It makes ground-breaking recommendations for global development policies. For the sake of securing peace, in the s Willy Brandt opposes nuclear armament.

When the communist dictatorships collapse in , the honorary chairman of the SPD sees a major opportunity for the free nations of Europe to unify. With all his strength he supports German unification in , which his policies made possible in the first place. Photo: J. Willy Brandt — German, European, Citizen of the World.