Remembering Willy Brandt

An event organized by the Goethe-Institut Cyprus, the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation and the Cyprus-German-Culture-Association on the occasion of Willy Brandt’s 100th birthday anniversary

He was considered “the other German” in a double meaning: no other German politician was as respected in other countries like him, yet he had many adversaries in East and West Germany as well. Adenauer once called him ”the chap without a fatherland” and tried to defame him as “Willy Brandt alias Herbert Frahm”. But Willy Brandt was also “the measurement for dignity in a country, where dignity was unknown until now”, as the New York Times wrote. Willy Brandt – from 1957-1966 mayor of West Berlin and from 1966 – 1969 German Foreign Minister- was also West Germany’s fourth Federal Chancellor from 1969-1974. From 1964-1987 he was head of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) and from 1976-1992 President of the Socialist International. For his new approach towards the eastern neighbors (Neue Ostpolitik), which aimed at detente with Eastern Germany, Poland and the Soviet Union, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971. But his critics in Germany continued to blame him.

Willy Brandt fought against two totalitarian systems, Fascism and Stalinism and developed from a socialist to a social democrat. This development started in his exile in Norway and Sweden during the Second World War and continued after his return to Germany 1945 in Berlin. He became Berlin’s mayor during the peak of the Cold War. As chancellor he worked for reconciliation with the East, in order to overcome the division of Germany and Europe. His policy of “change through rapprochement” made reunification of Germany possible.

For a whole generation of young Germans Willy Brandt became a torchbearer of hope, who aimed at more democracy. Willy Brandt was no cynic of power, but a statesman with moral virtues. His charisma is still unreached, although he was a hero with some weaknesses.

18th December 2013 was Willy Brandt’s one hundred’s birthday anniversary. For that occasion we will present the new documentary film “Remembering Willy Brandt” (2013) by Andre Schäfer (90 min.: German with English subtitles) It’s a film about the west German republic from the early fifties till the end of the last millennium. A journey through German society and the changes, which nobody embodied more than Willy Brandt.

In 1982, Willy Brandt visited Cyprus and spoke at an event of the then young Cyprus-German-Culture-Association.

With welcoming words by the president of the Cyprus-German Culture Association, Dr. Andreas Spyridakis and the former Permanent Secretary of the Cyprus Ministry of Justice, Dr. Petros Kareklas followed by an introduction by Prof. Hubert Faustmann (director of Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation office in Cyprus). A small reception will follow.