7 Willy Brandt 7to Sweden, where he remained for the duration of World
War II. After the war he returned to Germany as a
Norwegian citizen and for a time was press attaché at the
Norwegian mission in Berlin.
Pressed to return to politics, Brandt became a German
citizen again and, after a period as Berlin representative of
the Social Democratic Party Executive Committee, was
elected a member of the federal parliament in 1949. Eight
years later he became the mayor of West Berlin (1957– 66),
a post that brought him world fame. He showed great
moral courage when in 1958 the Soviet Union demanded
that West Berlin be given the title of a demilitarized free
city and especially when the Berlin Wall was built in 1961.
He succeeded Erich Ollenhauer as chairman of the SPD
in 1964 and campaigned for the office of chancellor of
West Germany three times—in 1961, 1965, and 1969.
When the grand coalition government of the Christian
Democratic Union (CDU) and the SPD was formed in
1966, Brandt became foreign minister and vice chancellor.
His party improved its performance at the federal elec-
tion in 1969 and formed a coalition government with the
small Free Democratic Party, pushing the CDU into the
role of opposition party for the first time. His govern-
ment’s first major decisions included the revaluing of the
West German mark and the signing of the Nuclear Non-
proliferation Treaty.
The year following his election as chancellor, Brandt
concentrated on foreign affairs, and he particularly
sought to improve relations with East Germany, other
Communist countries in eastern Europe, and the Soviet
Union, formulating a policy known as Ostpolitik (“eastern
policy”). His efforts led to a treaty with the Soviet Union
in August 1970 calling for mutual renunciation of force
and the acceptance of current European borders. They