PCGUIA 10/PC Guia 10.iso/database/shared.dir/01255_Field_21.cap.txt

Text File | 1996-03-14 | 3KB | 168 lines

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In October 1957,
Willy Brandt was
elected mayor of
West Berlin. One
of his key aims
was to strengthen
the links between
the city of Berlin,
- isolated like an
island inside the
Eastern bloc -
and the rest of
West Germany
#
Erhard was the chief architect of the post-war German economic miracle. Under
his stewardship West Germany became an economic super-power. Brandt made it
his mission to raise West Germany's political status to the same rank
#
Brandt fled to
Norway after
Hitler came to
power. He became
a Norwegian
citizen, married
Rut, a Norwegian,
and then joined
Norway's anti-Nazi
resistance fighters.
Though he later
resumed German
citizenship, many
nationalists never
forgave him for
fighting against
his native country
#
In an effort to stop
the growing flood
of refugees to the
west, East Germany
sealed the border
between east and
west Berlin in1961.
Brandt wanted
resolute support
from the west, and
appealed angrily
to President
Kennedy: "Berlin
expects more
than words;
Berlin expects
political action"
#
East Germans
rushed to cross
over to the west
before it was
too late. In the
six weeks it took
to build the
Berlin Wall across
Potsdamer Platz,
more than 45,000
people crossed
into west Berlin
#
The city of Berlin
was to be divided
for 28 years.
Willy Brandt
never believed he
would live to see
his city reunited,
and he was as
surprised as
anybody when
the Wall did
came down
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When the Wall
went up, Germans
old and young
felt the two
Germanies were
bound to take
separate paths.
Brandt's Ostpolitik
attempted to slow
this process, to
maintain the
dialogue between
East and West,
and so keep alive
the hope of a
united Germany
and a united Europe
#
Adenauer, the first chancellor of West Germany, believed in a foreign policy based
on partnership with other Western European nations. He refused to acknowledge
East Germany or to deal with the Soviet bloc, and he was a bitter critic of
Willy Brandt's policy of Ostpolitik
#
After becoming
Chancellor in
1969, Brandt's
first priority was
to normalise
relations with
East Germany. His
summit with the
East German
prime minister
in 1970 was the
first ever such
meeting between
the leaders of
the two countries
#
The German-
Polish treaty
guaranteed the
Oder-Neisse line
as the western
border of Poland
and was the first
step in Willy
Brandt's mission to
improve diplomatic
relations with
Eastern Europe
#
In 1970 Brandt
signed a treaty
with the Soviet
leader Leonid
Brezhnev whereby
both sides agreed
not to use force in
matters affecting
international
security. The
treaty was a great
symbolic success,
and marked a
turning point in
West Germany's
international
position
#
Brandt lived to
see the Berlin
Wall pulled down
in 1989, and
returned briefly
to the limelight.
In that year of
peaceful revolu-
tions and German
re-unification,
there seemed to
be something
prophetic about
his long and
honorable career
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