Editing Willy Brandt (section)

=== Reunification ===
{{multiple image
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| image1        = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0316-035, Wismar, SPD-Wahlkundgebung, Willy Brandt.jpg
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| image2        = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0928-036, Dessau, SPD-Wahlkundgebung, Willy Brandt.jpg
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| footer        = Brandt giving a speech in [[Wismar]] ahead of the [[1990 East German general election]] (left) and in [[Dessau]] shortly before [[German reunification]] (right), 1990
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In October 1979, Brandt met with the East German dissident, [[Rudolf Bahro]], who had written ''The Alternative''. Bahro and his supporters were attacked by the East German state security organization [[Stasi]], headed by [[Erich Mielke]], for his writings, which had laid the theoretical foundation of a left-wing opposition to the ruling SED party and its dependent allies, and which promoted new and changed parties. All of this is now described as "change from within". Brandt had asked for Bahro's release, and Brandt welcomed Bahro's theories, which advanced the debate within his own Social Democratic Party.

On 11 September 1988, Brandt described the hope for [[German reunification]] as a delusion.<ref>{{cite web|title=Schlaglichter der deutschen Einheit. Eine kommentierte Chronik(1987-1990)|url=https://www.kas.de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=b766e451-ebe2-cbd4-72f0-a1824f960320&groupId=252038|website=kas.de|publisher=[[Konrad Adenauer Foundation]]|author=Michael Borchard|page=11|date=1 October 2008|language=de}}</ref> In late 1989, Brandt became one of the first leftwing leaders in West Germany to publicly favor a quick reunification of Germany, instead of some sort of two-state federation or other kind of interim arrangement. Brandt's public statement, "Now grows together what belongs together", was widely quoted in those days.