Editing Willy Brandt (section)

=== Foreign policy ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F037099-0021, Köln, Staatsempfang für Präsident Pompidou.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Brandt with French president [[Georges Pompidou]] in [[Cologne]], 3 July 1972]]

As chancellor, Brandt developed his ''(Neue) [[Ostpolitik]]'' ("new eastern policy") by stages. He was active in creating a degree of rapprochement with [[East Germany]], and also in improving relations with the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and other [[Eastern Bloc]] (communist) countries.

Brandt introduced his Ostpolitik gradually starting in 1967 with the establishment of diplomatic relations with Romania and making a trade agreement with Czechoslovakia. In 1968, he restored diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia. However, the August 1968, Kremlin-controlled invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact was a profound disappointment. He condemned the invasion and put Ostpolitik on hold while he negotiated a coalition with the Free Democrats. In late 1969, he indicated his readiness to meet with East German leadership on the basis of equality, without preconditions. He also expressed an eagerness to meet with the USSR and Poland to resolve frontier questions that had remained unsettled since 1945. He met with the East German premier [[Willi Stoph]] in 1970.

Brandt made a six-point proposal that would involve two separate German states that respected each other's territorial integrity and settle disputes peacefully. They would cooperate as neighbours and the rights of the Four Powers in Berlin would be respected by both of them, and finally, the situation around Berlin would be improved. No agreements were reached at first, but talks continued. In 1970, he signed a treaty with the Soviet Union, which normalised relations and recognized existing national boundaries. The treaty with Poland in December 1970 accepted the current boundaries, which had long been in dispute. During a visit to a monument to the German occupation-era Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, he unexpectedly, and apparently spontaneously, knelt ([[Kniefall von Warschau]]), honoring the victims. This was met with a strong positive reaction worldwide but was highly controversial among the German public at the time.

[[File:Willy Brandt Square 02.jpg|thumb|Monument commemorating the [[Kniefall von Warschau]]]]

The Berlin question was settled in 1971 to West Germany's satisfaction. The crowning step came with the Basic Treaty with East Germany. The status quo was legitimized, relations were formalized on the basis of equality, and both Germanies joined the United Nations in 1973.<ref>Frank W. Thackeray and John E. Findling, eds. ''Statesmen Who Changed the World: A Bio-Bibliographical Dictionary of Diplomacy'' (Greenwood, 1993) pp 60-63</ref> Brandt became the first German chancellor to address the United Nations General Assembly.

''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine in the U.S. named Brandt as its [[Time Person of the Year|Man of the Year]] for 1970, stating, "Willy Brandt is in effect seeking to end World War II by bringing about a fresh relationship between East and West. He is trying to accept the real situation in Europe, which has lasted for 25 years, but he is also trying to bring about a new reality in his bold approach to the Soviet Union and the East Bloc."<ref name="Time 1971">{{cite magazine |title=Man Of The Year: On the Road to a New Reality |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,942376,00.html |access-date=April 16, 2022 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=January 4, 1971}}</ref> President [[Richard Nixon]] also was pushing [[détente]] on behalf of the United States. The [[Foreign policy of the Richard Nixon administration|Nixon policies]] amounted to co-opting Brandt's Ostpolitik.<ref>{{harvp|Juneau|2011}}</ref>

In 1971, Brandt received the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for his work in improving [[international relation|relations]] with East Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union. Brandt negotiated a peace treaty with Poland, and agreements on the boundaries between the two countries, signifying the official and long-delayed end of [[World War II]]. Brandt negotiated parallel treaties and agreements with Czechoslovakia.

[[File:Meeting to discuss US-West German relations - NARA - 194507.tif|thumb|left|300px|Brandt with U.S. president [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Henry Kissinger]], 2 May 1973]]

In West Germany, Brandt's ''Neue Ostpolitik'' was extremely controversial, dividing the populace into two camps. One camp embraced all of the conservative parties, and most notably those West German residents and their families who had been driven west ("die [[Heimatvertriebenen]]") by Stalinist [[ethnic cleansing]] from [[Historical Eastern Germany]], especially the part that was given to Poland as a consequence of the end of the war; western [[Czechoslovakia]] (the [[Sudetenland]]); and the rest of Eastern Europe, such as in [[Romania]]. These groups of displaced Germans and their descendants loudly voiced their opposition to Brandt's policy, calling it "illegal" and "high treason".
A different camp supported and encouraged Brandt's ''Neue Ostpolitik'' as aiming at "change through [[rapprochement]]" (''Wandel durch Annäherung''), encouraging change through a policy of engagement with the (communist) [[Eastern Bloc]], rather than trying to isolate these countries diplomatically and commercially. Brandt's supporters claim that the policy did help to break down the Eastern Bloc's "[[siege mentality]]" and also helped to increase its awareness of the contradictions in its brand of socialism/communism, which – together with other events – eventually led to the downfall of Eastern European communism.