Willy Brandt Impact On Ostpolitik

Willy Brandt (1913-1992), born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm, was from 1957 to 1966 the Mayor of West Berlin, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1969 to 1974, and the leader of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1964 to 1987. As a young socialist in Nazi Germany during World War II, he had to flee to Norway. In 1949, after the war had ended and Brandt had returned to Germany, he became a member of the West German parliament (the Bundestag) and eventually became the Mayor of West Berlin. Brandt managed the city’s politics during a turbulent time, just as tensions with Soviet-occupied East Germany were growing and the Soviets were constructing the Berlin Wall. Later, as the Chancellor of West Germany,

The proposal of Ostpolitik and its measures were highly controversial and divisive. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a conservative party and the SPD’s main rival, strongly opposed the introduction of Ostpolitik (Craig). Many SPD members of the Bundestag also opposed the policies, some of them so much that they switched their party affiliation from the SPD to the CDU. The balance of power in the Bundestag shifted dramatically during the 1970s, enough to almost topple the SPD-backed Brandt from the chancellorship of West

It should not be forgotten that Brandt continued to crusade for Ostpolitik despite the heavy criticism from within and from outside his party. Unlike the heroes of Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies, Brandt did not face constant persecution for his actions. However, the people of East Germany and other Soviet bloc nations did face persecution frequently. Citizens of those countries caught escaping to Western nations were often executed or imprisoned. By instituting Ostpolitik, Brandt helped improve the quality of life for citizens of East European nations, like how the Mirabals fought to improve quality of life in the Dominican