Willy Brandt
Chancellor of Germany
In office 21 October 1969 – 7 May 1974
President	Gustav Heinemann
Preceded by	Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Succeeded by	Helmut Schmidt
President of the German Bundesrat
In office 1957–1958
President	Theodor Heuss
Preceded by	Kurt Sieveking
Succeeded by	Wilhelm Kaisen
Vice-Chancellor of Germany
In office 1 December 1966 – 21 October 1969
Preceded by	Hans-Christoph Seebohm
Succeeded by	Walter Scheel
Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 1 December 1966 – 20 October 1969
Preceded by	Gerhard Schröder
Succeeded by	Walter Scheel
Mayor of West Berlin
In office 1957–1966
Preceded by	Otto Suhr
Succeeded by	Heinrich Albertz
Personal details
Born	18 December 1913(1913-12-18) Lübeck, Free City of Lübeck, (German Empire)
Died	8 October 1992(1992-10-08) (aged 78) Unkel, Germany
Political party	SPD
Occupation	Worker, Journalist, Lecturer, Activist, Politician
Religion	Lutheran
Signature

Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm (German pronunciation: [ˈvɪli ˈbʁant]; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992), was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) 1964–1987.

Brandt's most important legacy was Ostpolitik, a policy aimed at improving relations with East Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union. This policy caused considerable controversy in West Germany, but won Brandt the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971.

In 1974, Brandt resigned as Chancellor after Günter Guillaume, one of his closest aides, was exposed as an agent of the Stasi, the East German secret service.

Early life, the war [link]

Willy Brandt was born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm in the Free City of Lübeck (German Empire) to Martha Frahm, an unwed mother who worked as a cashier for a department store. His father was an accountant from Hamburg named John Möller, whom Brandt never met. As his mother worked six days a week, he was mainly brought up by his mother's stepfather Ludwig Frahm and his second wife Dora.

After passing his Abitur in 1932 at Johanneum zu Lübeck, he became an apprentice at the shipbroker and ship's agent F.H. Bertling. He joined the "Socialist Youth" in 1929 and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1930. He left the SPD to join the more left wing Socialist Workers Party (SAP), which was allied to the POUM in Spain and the Independent Labour Party in Britain. In 1933, using his connections with the port and its ships, he left Germany for Norway to escape Nazi persecution. It was at this time that he adopted the pseudonym Willy Brandt to avoid detection by Nazi agents. In 1934, he took part in the founding of the International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations, and was elected to its Secretariat.

Brandt was in Germany from September to December 1936, disguised as a Norwegian student named Gunnar Gaasland. He was married to Gertrud Meyer from Lübeck in a fictitious marriage to protect her from deportation. Meyer had joined Brandt in Norway in July 1933. In 1937, during the Civil War, Brandt worked in Spain as a journalist. In 1938, the German government revoked his citizenship, so he applied for Norwegian citizenship. In 1940, he was arrested in Norway by occupying German forces, but was not identified as he wore a Norwegian uniform. On his release, he escaped to neutral Sweden. In August 1940, he became a Norwegian citizen, receiving his passport from the Norwegian embassy in Stockholm, where he lived until the end of the war. Willy Brandt lectured in Sweden on 1 December 1940 at Bommersvik college about problems experienced by the social democrats in Nazi Germany and the occupied countries at the start of World War II. In exile in Norway and Sweden Brandt learned Norwegian and Swedish. Brandt spoke Norwegian fluently, and retained a close relationship with Norway.

In late 1946, Brandt returned to Berlin, working for the Norwegian government. In 1948, he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and became a German citizen again, formally adopting the pseudonym, Willy Brandt, as his legal name.

Politician [link]

Brandt meeting John F. Kennedy in 1961

From 3 October 1957, to 1966, Willy Brandt was Mayor of West Berlin, during a period of increasing tension in East-West relations that led to the construction of the Berlin Wall. In Brandt's first year as Mayor, he also served as the President of the Bundesrat in Bonn. Brandt was outspoken against the Soviet repression of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and against Nikita Khrushchev's 1958 proposal that Berlin receive the status of a "free city". He was supported by the influential publisher Axel Springer. As Mayor of West Berlin, Brandt accomplished much in the way of urban development. New hotels, office-blocks and flats were constructed, while both Schloss Charlottenburg and the Reichstag were restored. Sections of the "Stadtring" Bundesautobahn 100 inner-city motorway were opened, while a major housing programme was carried out, with roughly 20,000 new dwellings built each year during his time in office.^[1]

At the start of 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy saw Brandt as the wave of the future in West Germany and was hoping he would replace Konrad Adenauer as chancellor following elections later in the year.^[2] Kennedy made this preference clear by inviting Brandt, the West German opposition leader, to an official meeting at the White House a month before meeting with Adenauer, the country’s leader. The diplomatic snub strained relations between Kennedy and Adenauer further during an especially tense time for Berlin.^[3] However, following the building of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, Brandt was disappointed and angry with Kennedy. Speaking in Berlin three days later, Brandt criticized Kennedy, asserting "Berlin expects more than words. It expects political action." He also wrote Kennedy a highly critical public letter in which he warned that the development was liable "to arouse doubts about the ability of the three [Allied] Powers to react and their determination" and he called the situation "a state of accomplished extortion"."^[4]

Brandt became the Chairman of the SPD in 1964, a post that he retained until 1987, longer than any other party Chairman since its foundation by August Bebel. Brandt was the SPD candidate for the Chancellorship in 1961, but he lost to Konrad Adenauer's conservative Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). In 1965, Brandt ran again, but lost to the popular Ludwig Erhard. Erhard's government was short-lived, however, and in 1966 a grand coalition between the SPD and CDU was formed, with Brandt as Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor.

Chancellor [link]

At the 1969 elections, again with Brandt as the leading candidate, the SPD became stronger, and after three weeks of negotiations, the SPD formed a coalition government with the smaller Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP). Brandt was elected Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Foreign policy[link]

Willy Brandt with French president Georges Pompidou in Cologne, 3 July 1972.

As Chancellor, Brandt developed his Neue Ostpolitik (New Eastern Policy). Brandt 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. A seminal moment came in December 1970 with the famous Warschauer Kniefall in which Brandt, apparently spontaneously, knelt down at the monument to victims of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The uprising occurred during the Nazi German military occupation of Poland, and the monument is to those killed by the German troops who suppressed the uprising and deported remaining ghetto residents to the concentration camps for extermination.

Time magazine in the USA named Brandt as its 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."^[5]

In 1971, Brandt received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in improving relations with East Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union.

Brandt negotiated a peace treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and 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 between the Federal Republic and Czechoslovakia.

In West Germany, Brandt's Neue Ostpolitik was extremely controversial, dividing the populace into two camps: one camp, embracing all of the conservative parties and most notably the victims i.e. those German-speaking, West German residents and their subsequent families who were driven west ("die Heimatvertriebenen") by Stalinist ethnic cleansing from Historical Eastern Germany, especially the part that was arbitrarily given to Poland by the Stalinists; 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 "Wandel durch Annäherung" ("change through rapprochement"), encouraging change through a policy of engagement with the (communist) Eastern Bloc, rather than trying to isolate those 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 and Stalinism.

Domestic policies [link]

Political and social changes [link]

West Germany in the late 1960s was shaken by student disturbances and a general "change of the times" that not all Germans were willing to accept or approve. What had seemed a stable, peaceful nation, happy with its outcome of the "Wirtschaftswunder" ("economic miracle") faced economic turbulence. The German baby-boom generation wanted to come to terms with the deeply conservative, bourgeois, and demanding parent generation. The baby-boomer students were the most outspoken, and they accused their "parental generation" of being outdated and old-fashioned and even of having a Nazi past. Compared to their forebears, the "skeptical generation" was much more capricious, willing to embrace more extreme socialist ideology (such as Maoism), and public heroes (such as Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, and Che Guevara), while living a looser and more promiscuous lifestyle. Students and young apprentices could afford to move out of their parents' homes, and left-wing politics was considered to be chic, as well as taking part in American-style political demonstrations against having American military forces in South Vietnam.

Brandt's popularity [link]

Brandt's predecessor as Chancellor, Kurt Georg Kiesinger, had been a member of the Nazi party, and was a more old-fashioned conservative-liberal intellectual. Brandt, having fought the Nazis and having faced down communist Eastern Germany during several crises while he was the Mayor of Berlin, became a controversial, but credible, figure in several different factions. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Kiesinger's grand coalition cabinet, Brandt helped to gain further international approval for Western Germany, and he laid the foundation stones for his future Neue Ostpolitik. There was a wide public-opinion gap between Kiesinger and Brandt in the West German polls.

Willy Brandt as the Chancellor talking to the parliament, 1971

Both men had come to their own terms with the new baby boomer lifestyles. Kiesinger considered them to be "a shameful crowd of long-haired drop-outs who needed a bath and someone to discipline them". On the other hand, Brandt needed a while to get into contact with, and to earn credibility among, the "Ausserparlamentarische Opposition" (APO) ("the extra-parliamentary opposition"). The students questioned West German society in general, seeking social, legal, and political reforms. Also, the unrest led to a renaissance of right-wing parties in some of the Bundeslands' (German states under the Bundesrepublik) Parliaments.

Brandt, however, represented a figure of change, and he followed a course of social, legal, and political reforms. In 1969, Brandt gained a small majority by forming a coalition with the FDP. In his first speech before the Bundestag as the Chancellor, Brandt set forth his political course of reforms ending the speech with his famous words, "Wir wollen mehr Demokratie wagen" (literally: "We want to take a chance on more Democracy", or more figuratively, "Let's dare more democracy"). This speech made Brandt, as well as the Social Democratic Party, popular among most of the students and other young West German baby-boomers who dreamed of a country that would be more open and more colorful than the frugal and still somewhat-authoritarian Bundesrepublik that had been built after World War II. However, Brandt's Neue Ostpolitik lost for him a large part of the German refugee (from the East) voters who had been significantly pro-SPD in the postwar years.

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v t e

Chancellor of domestic reform [link]

Although Brandt is perhaps best known for his achievements in foreign policy, his government oversaw the implementation of a broad range of social reforms, and was known as a "Kanzler der inneren Reformen" ('Chancellor of domestic reform').^[6] According to the historian David Childs, “Brandt was anxious that his government should be a reforming administration and a number of reforms were embarked upon”.^[7] Within a few years, the education budget rose from 16 billion to 50 billion DM, while one out of every three DM spent by the new government was devoted to welfare purposes. As noted by the journalist and historian Marion Dönhoff,

“People were seized by a completely new feeling about life. A mania for large scale reforms spread like wildfire, affecting schools, universities, the administration, family legislation. In the autumn of 1970 Jurgen Wischnewski of the SPD declared, ‘Every week more than three plans for reform come up for decision in cabinet and in the Assembly.’ ”^[8]

According to Helmut Schmidt, Willy Brandt's domestic reform programme had accomplished more than any previous programme for a comparable period.^[9] A number of liberal social reforms were instituted^[10] whilst the welfare state was significantly expanded (with total public spending on social programs nearly doubling between 1969 and 1975),^[11] with health, housing, and social welfare legislation bringing about welcome improvements,^[12] and by the end of the Brandt Chancellorship West Germany had one of the most advanced systems of welfare in the world.^[6]

Amongst his achievements as Chancellor were:

• Substantial increases in social security benefits such as injury and sickness benefits,^[6] pensions,^[13] unemployment benefits,^[14] housing allowances,^[15] basic subsistence aid allowances,^[16] and family allowances and living allowances.^[17] In the government’s first budget, sickness benefits were increased by 9.3%, pensions for war widows by 25%, pensions for the war wounded by 16%, and recruitment pensions by 5%.^[18] Numerically, pensions went up by 6.4% (1970), 5.5% (1971), 9.5% (1972), 11.4% (1973), and 11.2% (1974). Adjusted for changes in the annual price index, pensions went up in real terms by 3.1% (1970), 0.3% (1971), 3.9% (1972), 4.4% (1973), and 4.2% (1974).^[19] Between 1972 and 1974, the purchasing power of pensioners increased by 19%.^[20]
• Improvements in sick pay provision.^[6]
• An expanded sickness insurance scheme, with the inclusion of preventative treatment.^[21]
• The allocation of more funds towards housing, transportation, schools, and communication.^[22]
• The index-linking of the income limit for compulsory sickness insurance to changes in the wage level (1970).^[23]
• The incorporation of pupils, students and children in kindergartens into the accident insurance scheme (1971),^[24] which benefited 11 million children.^[25]
• The introduction of generous public stipends for students to cover their living costs.^[10]
• The conversion of West German universities from elite schools into mass institutions.^[14]
• The Farmers’ Sickness Insurance Law (1972), which introduced compulsory sickness insurance for independent farmers, family workers in agriculture, and pensioners under the farmers’ pension scheme, medical benefits for all covered groups, and cash benefits for family workers under compulsory coverage for pension insurance.^[26]
• The introduction of voluntary retirement at 63 with no deductions in the level of benefits.^[27]
• The index-linking of war victim’s pensions to wage increases.^[6]
• An increase in spending on research and education by nearly 300% between 1970 and 1974.^[14]
• The raising of the school leaving age to 16.^[28]
• The abolition of fees for higher or further education.^[6]
• A considerable increase in the number of higher education institutions.^[14]
• The introduction of grants for pupils from lower income groups to stay on at school.^[14]
• The introduction of grants for those going into any kind of higher or further education.^[14]
• Increases in educational allowances.^[29]
• Greater spending on science.^[30]
• The introduction of "Vergleichmieten" ('comparable rents'), a loose form of rent regulation.^[31]
• A significant rise in the income limit for social housing (1971).^[32]
• Increased levels of protection and support for low-income tenants and householders,^[6] which led to a drop in the number of eviction notices. By 1974, three times as much was paid out in rent subsidies as in 1969, and nearly one and a half million households received rental assistance.^[33]
• Increases in public housing subsidies,^[34] as characterised by a 36% increase in the social housing budget in 1970^[35] and by the introduction of a programme for the construction of 200,000 public housing units (1971).^[36]
• The establishment of a federal environmental programme (1971).^[37]
• Reforms to the armed forces, as characterised by a reduction in basic military training from eighteen to fifteen months and a reorganisation of education and training, as well as personnel and procurement procedures.^[38]
• The establishment of a women’s policy machinery at the national level (1972).^[39]
• The establishment of a Federal Environment Agency (1974) to conduct research into environmental issues and prevent pollution.^[40]
• The introduction of redundancy allowances in cases of bankruptcies (1974).^[41]
• Improvements in income and work conditions for home workers.^[42]
• The introduction of new provisions for the rehabilitation of severely disabled people ("Schwerbehinderte") and accident victims.^[43]
• The introduction of guaranteed minimum pension benefits for all West Germans.^[11]
• The introduction of fixed minimum rates for women in receipt of very low pensions, and equal treatment for war widows.^[44]
• An amendment to the Labour Management Act (1971) which granted workers co-determination on the shop floor.^[45]
• The Factory Constitution Law (1971), which strengthened the rights of individual employees “to be informed and to be heard on matters concerning their place of work.” The Works’ Council was provided with greater authority while trade unions were given the right of entry into the factory “provided they informed the employer of their intention to do so”.^[7]
• The passage of a law to encourage wider share ownership by workers and other rank-and-file employees.^[14]
• An increase in federal aid to sports’ organisations.^[14]
• Efforts to improve the railways and motorways.^[14]
• A new Factory Management Law (1972) which extended co-determination at the factory level.^[6]
• The passing of a law in 1974 to allow for worker representation on the boards of large firms (although this change was not enacted until 1976, after alterations were made).^[46]
• The extension of accident insurance to non-working adults.^[11]
• The introduction of greater legal rights for women, as exemplified by the standardisation of pensions, divorce laws, regulations governing use of surnames, and the introduction of measures to bring more women into politics.^[47]
• The Town Planning Act (1971), which encouraged the preservation of historical heritage and helped open up the way to the future of many German cities.^[14]
• An addition to the Basic Law which gave the Federal Government some responsibility for educational planning.^[14]
• A big increase in spending on education, with educational expenses per head of the population multiplied by five.^[14]
• The passing of the Severely Disabled Persons Act (1974), which obliged all employers with more than fifteen employees to ensure that 6% of their workforce was persons officially recognised as being severely disabled. Employers who failed to do so were assessed 100 DM per month for every job falling before the required quota. These compensatory payments were used to subsidise the adaptation of workplaces to the requirements of those who were severely disabled.^[48]
• Amendments to the Federal Social Assistance Act (1974). “Help for the vulnerable” was renamed “help for overcoming particular social difficulties,” and the numbers of people eligible for assistance was greatly extended to include all those “whose own capabilities cannot meet the increasing demands of modern industrial society.” The intention of these amendments was to include especially such groups as discharged prisoners, drug and narcotic addicts, alcoholics, and the homeless.^[49] As a result of these changes, people who formerly had to be supported by their relatives were now entitled to social assistance.^[10]
• The passing of a Foreign Tax Act, which limited the possibility of tax evasion.^[50]
• The Urban Renewal Act (1971), which helped the states to restore their inner cities and to develop new neighbourhoods.^[51]
• The lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18.^[52]
• Improvements in pension provision for women and the self-employed.^[53]
• The introduction of a new minimum pension for workers with at least twenty-five years’ insurance.^[54]
• The Second Sickness Insurance Modification Law (1972), which linked the indexation of the income-limit for compulsory employee coverage to the development of the pension insurance contribution ceiling (75% of the ceiling), obliged employers to pay half of the contributions in the case of voluntary membership, extended the criteria for voluntary membership of employees, and introduced preventive medical check-ups for certain groups.^[55]
• The Pension Reform Law (1972), which guaranteed all retirees a minimum pension regardless of their contributions^[56] and institutionalized the norm that the standard pension (of average earners with forty years of contributions) should not fall below 50% of current gross earnings.^[57] The 1972 pension reforms improved eligibility conditions and benefits for nearly every subgroup of the West German population.^[58] The income replacement rate for employees who made full contributions was raised to 70% of average earnings. The reform also replaced 65 as the mandatory retirement age with a “retirement window” ranging between 63 and 65 for employees who had worked for at least thirty-five years. Employees who qualified as disabled and had worked for at least thirty-five years were extended a more generous retirement window, which ranged between the ages of 60 and 62. Women who had worked for at least fifteen years (ten of which had to be after the age of age 40), and the long-term unemployed were also granted the same retirement window as the disabled. In addition, there were no benefit reductions for employees who had decided to retire earlier than the age of 65.^[59] The legislation also changed the way in which pensions were calculated for low-income earners who had been covered for twenty-five or more years. If the pension benefit fell below a specified level, then such workers were allowed to substitute a wage figure of 75% of the average wage during this period, thus creating something like a minimum wage benefit.^[60]
• The introduction of a pension reform package, which incorporated an additional year of insurance for mothers.^[9]
• The liberalisation of the penal code.^[9]
• An increase in tax-free allowances for children, which enabled 1,000,000 families to claim an allowance for the second child, compared to 300,000 families previously.^[61]
• The exemption of pensioners from paying a 2% health insurance contribution.^[62]
• The Hospital Financing Law (1972), which secured the supply of hospitals and reduced the cost of hospital care, “defined the financing of hospital investment as a public responsibility, single states to issue plans for hospital development, and the federal government to bear the cost of hospital investment covered in the plans, rates for hospital care thus based on running costs alone, hospitals to ensure that public subsidies together with insurance fund payments for patients cover total costs”.^[63]
• A new fund of 100 million marks for disabled children.^[64]
• The granting of equal rights to illegitimate children (1970).^[65]
• A law for the creation of property for workers, under which a married worker would normally keep up to 95% of his pay, and graded tax remission for married wage-earners applied up to a wage of 48,000 marks, which indicated the economic prosperity of West Germany at that time.^[66]
• The Benefit Improvement Law (1973), which made entitlement to hospital care legally binding (entitlements already enjoyed in practice), abolished time limits for hospital care, introduced entitlement to household assistance under specific conditions, and also introduced entitlement to leave of absence from work and cash benefits in the event of a child’s illness.^[67]
• Increased allowances for retraining and advanced training and for refugees from East Germany.^[68]
• The Seventh Modification Law (1973), which linked the indexation of farmers’ pensions to the indexation of the general pension insurance scheme.^[69]
• An increase in federal grants for sport.^[70]
• The Third Modification Law (1974), which extended individual entitlements to social assistance by means of higher-income limits compatible with receipt of benefits and lowered age limits for certain special benefits. Rehabilitation measures were also extended, child supplements were expressed as percentages of standard amounts and were thus indexed to their changes, and grandparents of recipients were exempted from potential liability to reimburse expenditure of social assistance carrier.^[71]
• An amendment to a federal civil service reform bill (1971) which enabled fathers to apply for part-time civil service work.^[72]
• The allocation to local communities of matching grants covering 90% of infrastructure development. This led to a dramatic increase in the number of public swimming pools and other facilities of consumptive infrastructure throughout West Germany.^[73]
• A modernization of the federal crime-fighting apparatus.^[74]
• The Third Social Welfare Amendment Act (1974), which brought considerable improvements for the handicapped, those in need of care, and older persons.^[75]
• The introduction of a matching fund program for 15 million employees, which stimulated them to accumulate capital.^[76]
• A much needed school and college construction program.^[14]
• The Industrial Relations Law (1972) and the Personnel Representation Act (1974), which not only broadened the rights of employees in matters which immediately affected their places of work, but also improved the possibilities for codetermination on operations committees, together with access of trade unions to companies.^[56] In 1972, the rights of works councils to information from management were not only strengthened, but works councils were also provided with full codetermination rights on issues such as working time arrangements in the plant, the setting of piece rates, plant wage systems, the establishment of vacation times, work breaks, overtime, and short-time work.^[77]
• The introduction of substantial federal benefits for farmers.^[78]
• The passage of a progressive anticartel law.^[14]
• The introduction of legislation which ensured continued payment of wages for workers disabled by illness (1970).^[56]
• A modernization of the armed forces establishment.^[79]
• The introduction of postgraduate support for highly qualified graduates, providing them with the opportunity to earn their doctorates or undertake research studies.^[80]
• The introduction of a contributory medical service for 23 million panel patients.^[81]
• The Third Law for the Liberalization of the Penal Code (1970), which liberalized “the right to political demonstration”.^[82]
• The introduction of free hospital care for 9 million recipients of social relief.^[83]
• The lowering of the age of eligibility for political office to twenty-one.^[84]
• Increases in the pensions of 2.5 million war victims.^[85]
• The lowering of the office age of majority to eighteen (March 1974).^[86]
• An increase in the number of teachers.^[87]
• The passage of a law which guaranteed “amnesty in minor offences connected with demonstrations.”^[88]
• The attainment of a lower rate of inflation than in other industrialised countries at that time.^[89]
• A rise in the standard of living, helped by the floating and revaluation of the mark.^[14] This was characterised by the real incomes of employees increasing more sharply than incomes from entrepreneurial work, with the proportion of employees’ incomes in the overall national income rising from 65% to 70% between 1969 and 1973, while the proportion of income from entrepreneurial work and property fell over that same period from just under 35% to 30.%^[90]

First cabinet [link]

• Willy Brandt (SPD) - Chancellor
• Walter Scheel (FDP) - Vice Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Helmut Schmidt (SPD) - Minister of Defense
• Hans-Dietrich Genscher (FDP) - Minister of the Interior
• Alex Möller (SPD) - Minister of Finance
• Gerhard Jahn (SPD) - Minister of Justice
• Karl Schiller (SPD) - Minister of Economics
• Walter Arendt (SPD) - Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
• Josef Ertl (FDP) - Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry
• Georg Leber (SPD) - Minister of Transport, Posts, and Communications
• Lauritz Lauritzen (SPD) - Minister of Construction
• Käte Strobel (SPD) - Minister of Youth, Family, and Health
• Hans Leussink - Minister of Education and Science
• Erhard Eppler (SPD) - Minister of Economic Cooperation
• Horst Ehmke (SPD) - Minister of Special Tasks
• Egon Franke (SPD) - Minister of Intra-German Relations

Cabinet changes [link]

• 13 May 1971 - Karl Schiller (SPD) succeeds Möller as Minister of Finance, remaining also Minister of Economics
• 15 March 1972 - Klaus von Dohnanyi (SPD) succeeds Leussink as Minister of Education and Science.
• 7 July 1972 - Helmut Schmidt (SPD) succeeds Schiller as Minister of Finance and Economics. Georg Leber (SPD) succeeds Schmidt as Minister of Defence. Lauritz Lauritzen (SPD) succeeds Leber as Minister of Transport, Posts, and Communications, remaining also Minister of Construction.

1972 crisis [link]

Brandt's Ostpolitik led to a meltdown of the narrow majority Brandt's coalition enjoyed in the Bundestag. In October 1970, FDP deputies Erich Mende, Heinz Starke, and Siegfried Zoglmann crossed the floor to join the CDU. On 23 February 1972, SPD deputy Herbert Hupka, who was also leader of the Bund der Vertriebenen, joined the CDU in disagreement with Brandt's reconciliatory efforts towards the east. On 23 April 1972, Wilhelm Helms (FDP) left the coalition ; the FDP politicians Knud von Kühlmann-Stumm and Gerhard Kienbaum also declared that they would vote against Brandt; thus, Brandt had lost his majority. On 24 April 1972 a vote of no confidence was proposed and it was voted on three days later. Had this motion passed, Rainer Barzel would have replaced Brandt as Chancellor. To everyone's surprise, the motion failed: Barzel got only 247 votes out of 260 ballots; for an absolute majority, 249 votes would have been necessary. There were also 10 votes against the motion and 3 invalid ballots. Most deputies of SPD and FDP did not take part in the voting, as not voting had the same effect as voting pro Brandt. It was not revealed until much later that two Bundestag members (Julius Steiner and Leo Wagner, both of the CDU/CSU) had been bribed by the East German Stasi to vote for Brandt.

New elections [link]

Though Brandt remained Chancellor, he had lost his majority. Subsequent initiatives in parliament, most notably on the budget, failed. Because of this stalemate, the Bundestag was dissolved and new elections were called. During the 1972 campaign, many popular West German artists, intellectuals, writers, actors and professors supported Brandt and the SPD. Among them were Günter Grass, Walter Jens, and even the soccer player Paul Breitner. Brandt's Ostpolitik as well as his reformist domestic policies were popular with parts of the young generation and led his SPD party to its best-ever federal election result in late 1972. The "Willy-Wahl", Brandt's landslide win was the beginning of the end; and Brandt's role in government started to decline.

Many of Brandt's reforms met with resistance from state governments (dominated by CDU/CSU). The spirit of reformist optimism was cut short by the 1973 oil crisis and the major public services strike 1974, which gave Germany's trade unions, led by Heinz Kluncker, a big wage increase but reduced Brandt's financial leeway for further reforms. Brandt was said to be more a dreamer than a manager and was personally haunted by depression. To counter any notions about being sympathetic to Communism or soft on left-wing extremists, Brandt implemented tough legislation that barred "radicals" from public service ("Radikalenerlass").

Guillaume affair [link]

Around 1973, West German security organizations received information that one of Brandt's personal assistants, Günter Guillaume, was a spy for the East German intelligence services. Brandt was asked to continue working as usual, and he agreed to do so, even taking a private vacation with Guillaume. Guillaume was arrested on 24 April 1974, and many blamed Brandt for having a communist spy in his inner circle. Thus disgraced, Brandt resigned from his position as the Chancellor on 6 May 1974. However, Brandt remained in the Bundestag and as the Chairman of the Social Democrats through 1987.

This espionage affair is widely considered to have been just the trigger for Brandt's resignation, not the fundamental cause. Brandt was dogged by scandals about serial adultery, and reportedly also struggled with alcohol and depression.^[91][92] There was also the economic fallout on West Germany of the 1973 oil crisis, which almost seems to have been enough stress to finish off Brandt as the Chancellor. As Brandt himself later said, "I was exhausted, for reasons which had nothing to do with the process going on at the time." ^[93] [Where "the process" seems to have been the unfolding of the Guillaume espionage scandal.]

Guillaume had been an espionage agent for East Germany, who was supervised by Markus Wolf, the head of the "Main Intelligence Administration" of the East German Ministry for State Security. Wolf stated after the reunification that the resignation of Brandt had never been intended, and that the planting and handling of Guillaume had been one of the largest mistakes of the East German secret services.

Brandt was succeeded as the Chancellor of the Bundesrepublik by his fellow Social Democrat, Helmut Schmidt. For the rest of his life, Brandt remained suspicious that his fellow Social Democrat (and longtime rival) Herbert Wehner had been scheming for Brandt's downfall. However, there is scant evidence to corroborate this suspicion.

Ex-Chancellor [link]

Willy Brandt in 1988 at the Münster party rally

After his term as the Chancellor, Brandt retained his seat in the Bundestag, and he remained the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party through 1987. Beginning in 1987, Brandt stepped down to become the Honorary Chairman of the party. Brandt was also a member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1983.

Socialist International [link]

For sixteen years, Brandt was the president of the Socialist International (1976–92), during which period the number of Socialist International's mainly European member parties grew until there were more than a hundred socialist, social democratic, and labour political parties around the world. For the first seven years, this growth in SI membership had been prompted by the efforts of the Socialist International's Secretary-General, the Swede Bernt Carlsson. However, in early 1983, a dispute arose about what Carlsson perceived as the SI president's authoritarian approach. Carlsson then rebuked Brandt saying: "this is a Socialist International — not a German International".

Next, against some vocal opposition, Brandt decided to move the next Socialist International Congress from Sydney, Australia to Portugal. Following this SI Congress in April 1983, Brandt retaliated against Carlsson by forcing him to step down from his position. However, the Austrian Prime Minister, Bruno Kreisky, argued on behalf of Brandt: "It is a question of whether it is better to be pure or to have greater numbers".^[94] Carlsson was succeeded by the Finn, Pentti Vaananen as Secretary General of the Socialist International ^[95]

Brandt Report [link]

In 1977, Brandt was appointed as the chairman of the Independent Commission for International Developmental Issues. This produced a report in 1980, which called for drastic changes in the global attitude towards development in the Third World. This became known as the Brandt Report.

Reunification [link]

Willy Brandt at an elections convention in Wismar, March 1990

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 leftist 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. In late 1989, Brandt became one of the first leftist 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.

Hostages in Iraq [link]

One of Brandt's last public appearances was in flying to Baghdad, Iraq, to free Western hostages held by Saddam Hussein, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Brandt secured the release of a large number of them, and on November 9, 1990, his airplane landed with 174 freed hostages on board at the Frankfurt Airport.^[96]

Death and memorials [link]

The Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt is the international capital airport named after the Nobel Peace Laureate.

Willy Brandt died of colon cancer at his home in Unkel, a town on the Rhine River, on 8 October 1992, and was given a state funeral. He was buried at the cemetery at Zehlendorf in Berlin.

When the SPD moved its headquarters from Bonn back to Berlin in the mid-1990s, the new headquarters was named the "Willy Brandt Haus". One of the buildings of the European Parliament in Brussels was named after him in 2008.

German artist Johannes Heisig painted several portraits of Brandt of which one was unveiled as part of an honoring event at German Historical Institute Washington, DC on March 18, 2003. Spokesmen amongst others were former German Federal Minister Egon Bahr and former U.S. Secretary of state Henry Kissinger.^[97]

In 2009, the University of Erfurt renamed its graduate school of public administration as the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy. A private German-language secondary school in Warsaw, Poland, is also named after Brandt.

In 2012, a newly built airport southeast of Germany's capital Berlin will be opening. Commemorating the legacy of Willy Brandt the name of the airport will be Berlin Brandenburg Airport "Willy Brandt".^[98]

Brandt's family [link]

From 1941 until 1948 Brandt was married to Anna Carlotta Thorkildsen (the daughter of a Norwegian father and a German-American mother). The two of them had a daughter, Ninja Brandt (born in 1940). After Brandt and Thorkildsen were divorced in 1948, Brandt married the Norwegian Rut Hansen in 1948. Hansen and Brandt had three sons: Peter Brandt (born in 1948), Lars Brandt (born in 1951), and Matthias Brandt (born in 1961). Today Peter is a historian, Lars is an artist, and Matthias is an actor. After 32 years of marriage, Willy Brandt and Rut Hansen Brand divorced in 1980, and from the day that they were divorced, they never saw each other again. On 9 December 1983, Brandt married Brigitte Seebacher (born in 1946).

Rut Hansen Brandt outlived Willy Brandt but died on 28 July 2006 in Berlin.

Matthias Brandt [link]

In 2003, Matthias Brandt acted the role of Guillaume in the movie Im Schatten der Macht ("In the Shadow of Power") directed by the German filmmaker Oliver Storz. This movie deals with the Guillaume affair and Willy Brandt's resignation from the Chancellorship. Matthias caused a minor controversy in Germany when it was announced that he would portray the man who betrayed his father, and who caused him to resign in 1974. Earlier in 1974 - when the Brandts and the Guillaumes took a vacation in Norway together - it was Matthias, then twelve years old, who was the first to discover that Guillaume and his wife "were typing mysterious things on typewriters the whole night through."

Lars Brandt [link]

In early 2006, Lars Brandt published a biography of his father called "Andenken" ('Remembrance'). This book has been the subject of some controversy. Some see it as a loving memory of the father-son-relationship, but others label it as a ruthless statement of a son who still thinks that he never had a father who really loved him.

Selected works [link]

• 1960 Mein Weg nach Berlin (My Path to Berlin), autobiography
• 1966 Draußen. Schriften während der Emigration. (Outside: Writings during the Emigration) ISBN 3-8012-1094-4
• 1968 Friedenspolitik in Europa (The Politics of Peace in Europe)
• 1976 Begegnungen und Einsichten 1960-1975 (Encounters and Insights 1960-1975) ISBN 3-455-08979-8
• 1982 Links und frei. Mein Weg 1930-1950 (Left and Free: My Path 1930-1950)
• 1986 Der organisierte Wahnsinn (Organized Lunacy)
• 1989 Erinnerungen (Memories) ISBN 3-549-07353-4

2002f, Berliner Ausgabe, Werkauswahl, ed. for Bundeskanzler Willy Brandt Stiftung by Helga Grebing, Gregor Schöllgen and Heinrich August Winkler, 10 volumes, Dietz Verlag, Bonn 2002f, Collected Writings, ISBN 3-8012-0305-0

Biographies [link]

• Lars Brandt, Andenken (ISBN 3-446-20710-4) (German)
• Helga Grebing, Willy Brandt. Der andere Deutsche. (ISBN 978-3-7705-4710-4) (German) - [Homepage of Prof. Dr. Helga Grebing] (German)
• Peter Merseburger, Willy Brandt (ISBN 3-421-05328-6) (German)
• Barbara Marshall, Willy Brandt, A Political Biography (ISBN 0-312-16438-6)
• Nestore di Meola, Willy Brandt raccontato da Klaus Lindenberg (ISBN 88-7284-712-5) (Italian)

References [link]

Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (November 2010)

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Willy Brandt

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Willy Brandt

• Official Biography of Willy Brandt by Chancellor Willy Brandt Foundation
• Adam Sneyd, "Brandt Commission", in Globalization and Autonomy Online Compendium, edited by William D. Coleman and Nancy Johnson
• Biography of Willy Brandt
• Special file on Willy Brandt and the unification of Europe in the ENA digital library
• Ubben Lecture at DePauw University
• Berlin Brandenburg Airport "Willy Brandt"

v t e Chancellors of Germany North German Confederation (1867–1871) Otto von Bismarck German Empire (1871–1918) Otto von Bismarck Leo von Caprivi Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst Bernhard von Bülow Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg Georg Michaelis Georg von Hertling Prince Maximilian of Baden Friedrich Ebert Weimar Republic (1919–1933) Philipp Scheidemann Gustav Bauer Hermann Müller Konstantin Fehrenbach Joseph Wirth Wilhelm Cuno Gustav Stresemann Wilhelm Marx Hans Luther Wilhelm Marx Hermann Müller Heinrich Brüning Franz von Papen Kurt von Schleicher Third Reich (1933–1945) Adolf Hitler Joseph Goebbels Count Schwerin von Krosigk (as Leading Minister) Federal Republic (1949–) Konrad Adenauer Ludwig Erhard Kurt Georg Kiesinger Willy Brandt Helmut Schmidt Helmut Kohl Gerhard Schröder Angela Merkel

v t e Presidents of the Bundesrat (Federal Council) Karl Arnold • Hans Ehard • Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf • Reinhold Maier • Georg August Zinn • Peter Altmeier • Kai-Uwe von Hassel • Kurt Sieveking • Willy Brandt • Wilhelm Kaisen • Franz-Josef Röder • Franz Meyers • Kurt Georg Kiesinger • Georg Diederichs • Helmut Lemke • Klaus Schütz • Herbert Weichmann • Franz-Josef Röder • Hans Koschnick • Heinz Kühn • Alfons Goppel • Hans Filbinger • Alfred Kubel • Albert Osswald • Bernhard Vogel • Gerhard Stoltenberg • Dietrich Stobbe • Hans-Ulrich Klose • Werner Zeyer • Johannes Rau • Franz Josef Strauss • Lothar Späth • Ernst Albrecht • Holger Börner • Walter Wallmann • Björn Engholm • Walter Momper • Henning Voscherau • Alfred Gomolka • Berndt Seite • Oskar Lafontaine • Klaus Wedemeier • Edmund Stoiber • Erwin Teufel • Gerhard Schröder • Hans Eichel • Roland Koch • Kurt Biedenkopf • Kurt Beck • Klaus Wowereit • Wolfgang Böhmer • Dieter Althaus • Matthias Platzeck • Peter Harry Carstensen • Harald Ringstorff • Ole von Beust • Peter Müller • Jens Böhrnsen

v t e Mayors of Berlin Complete list Berlin1 (1809-1948) Leopold von Gerlach Johann Büsching Friedrich von Bärensprung Heinrich Wilhelm Krausnick Franz Christian Naunyn Heinrich Wilhelm Krausnick Karl Theodor Seydel Arthur Hobrecht Max von Forckenbeck Robert Zelle Martin Kirschner Adolph Wermuth Gustav Böß Arthur Scholz Heinrich Sahm Oskar Maretzky2 Julius Lippert2 Ludwig Steeg2 Arthur Werner Otto Ostrowski Louise Schroeder Ferdinand Friedensburg East Berlin1 (1948-1991) Friedrich Ebert Herbert Fechner Erhard Krack Ingrid Pankraz Christian Hartenauer Tino Schwierzina Thomas Krüger West Berlin3 (1948-1991) Ernst Reuter Walther Schreiber Otto Suhr Willy Brandt Heinrich Albertz Klaus Schütz Dietrich Stobbe Hans-Jochen Vogel Richard von Weizsäcker Eberhard Diepgen Walter Momper Berlin3 (since 1990) Walter Momper Eberhard Diepgen Klaus Wowereit 1Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) 2 Stadtpräsident (City President) 3 Regierender Bürgermeister (Governing Mayor)

v t e Chairmen of the Social Democratic Party of Germany SPD (1890–1933) Paul Singer / Alwin Gerisch August Bebel / Paul Singer August Bebel / Hugo Haase Hugo Haase / Friedrich Ebert Friedrich Ebert Friedrich Ebert / Philipp Scheidemann Otto Wels / Herman Müller Arthur Crispien / Otto Wels / Herman Müller Arthur Crispien / Otto Wels Arthur Crispien / Otto Wels / Hans Vogel SPD-in-exile (1933–1945) Otto Wels / Hans Vogel Hans Vogel SPD (since 1946) Kurt Schumacher Erich Ollenhauer Willy Brandt Hans-Jochen Vogel Björn Engholm Rudolf Scharping Oskar Lafontaine Gerhard Schröder Franz Müntefering Matthias Platzeck Kurt Beck Franz Müntefering Sigmar Gabriel

v t e Foreign Ministers of Germany German Empire (1871–1918) Thile Balan B.E. v. Bülow Radowitz Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst Limburg-Stirum Busch Hatzfeld zu Trachenberg H. v. Bismarck Bieberstein B. von Bülow Richthofen Tschirschky-Bögendorff Schoen Kiderlen-Waechter Jagow Zimmermann Kühlmann Hintze Solf Brockdorff-Rantzau Weimar Republic (1918–1933) Brockdorff-Rantzau Müller Köster Simons Rosen Wirth Rathenau Rosenberg Stresemann Curtius Brüning Neurath Nazi Germany (1933–1945) Neurath Ribbentrop Seyss-Inquart Schwerin von Krosigk German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (1949–1990) Dertinger Ackermann Bolz Winzer O. Fischer Meckel de Maizière Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949) Adenauer Brentano Schröder Brandt Scheel Genscher Kinkel J. Fischer Steinmeier Westerwelle

Funny van Dannen.

Funny van Dannen (born Franz-Josef Hagmanns-Dajka in 1958 in Tüddern, The Netherlands, now in Germany) is a German singer, songwriter, author, and painter of Dutch origin.

He sings about politics, society, sexuality, religion, and many other topics, usually in a humorous way. He accompanies his songs with guitar, sometimes with harmonica. He founded the band Lassie Singers. Since 1978 he has lived in Berlin. He is married and has four sons.

The punk band Die Toten Hosen interpreted some of his songs, notably Trauriges Arschloch, Bayern, Frauen dieser Welt, and Lesbische, schwarze Behinderte. Die Schröders, another punk rock band, made his song "Saufen" more famous.

As of 2007 van Dannen had published eleven albums; except for Info 3, Herzscheiße, Nebelmaschine, Trotzdem Danke and Saharasand all were recorded live.

Discography[link]

• Clubsongs (1995)
• Basics (1996)
• Info3 (1997)
• Uruguay (1999)
• Melody Star (2000)
• Groooveman (2002)
• Herzscheiße (2003)
• Nebelmaschine (2005)
• Authentic Trip (2005)
• Trotzdem danke (2007)
• Saharasand (2009)

Books[link]

• Spurt ins Glück (1991)
• Jubel des Lebens (1993)
• Am Wegesrand (1996)
• Komm in meine Arme (1998)
• Der Tag als Rosi kam (1997)
• Neues von Gott (2004)
• Zurück im Paradies (2007)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Funny van Dannen

• Official Site (german)

Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim in Vienna, 2008
Born	(1942-11-15) November 15, 1942 (age 69) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Citizenship	Argentine, Israeli, Spanish, Palestinian
Occupation	Pianist and conductor
Religion	Jewish
Website
www.danielbarenboim.com

Daniel Barenboim, KBE (born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings.

Currently, he is general music director of La Scala in Milan,^[1] the Berlin State Opera, and the Staatskapelle Berlin; he previously served as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre de Paris. Barenboim is also known for his work with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a Sevilla-based orchestra of young Arab and Israeli musicians, and as an outspoken critic of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Barenboim has received numerous awards and prizes, including Britain's Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire,^[2] France's Légion d'honneur both as a Commander and Grand Officier, the German Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz and Willy Brandt Award,^[3] and, together with the Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said, Spain's Prince of Asturias Concord Award. He has won seven Grammy awards for his work and discography.

Biography[link]

Daniel Barenboim, age 11, with composer Eithan Lustig and the Gadna Youth orchestra (1953)

Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to parents of Russian Jewish descent. He started piano lessons at the age of five with his mother, continuing to study with his father, who remained his only teacher. On August 19, 1950, at the age of seven, he gave his first formal concert in his hometown, Buenos Aires.^[4]

In 1952, Barenboim moved to Israel with his family. Two years later, in the summer of 1954, his parents took him to Salzburg to take part in Igor Markevitch's conducting classes. During that summer he also met and played for Wilhelm Furtwängler, who has remained a central musical influence and ideal for Barenboim.^[5] Furtwängler called the young Barenboim a "phenomenon" and invited him to perform the Beethoven First Piano Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic, but Barenboim's father considered it too soon after the second world war for a child of Jewish parents to be performing in Berlin.^[6] In 1955 Barenboim studied harmony and composition with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.^[4]

Following a phone conversation with Barenboim's parents, who were living in Tel Aviv, Barenboim and his fiancée Jacqueline du Pré, the British cellist who was then 22, flew from London to Israel, arriving on May 27, 1967. Beginning on June 1, during the tense days prior to the Six Day War, as well as after the war had started, the couple gave concerts in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beer Sheva. Barenboim told a reporter in an interview at the time that "Jackie is going to convert to Judaism."^[7] The couple were married on June 15,^[8] the day after Shavuot in Israel at a Western Wall ceremony, Du Pré having converted to Judaism. Acting as one of the witnesses was Zubin Mehta, the conductor who was a long-time friend of Barenboim. Since "I was not Jewish I had to temporarily be renamed Moshe Cohen, which made me a 'kosher witness,'" Mehta recalled.^[9] The marriage lasted until du Pré's death from multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1987. Du Pré retired from music in 1973, after being diagnosed. In the early 1980s, Barenboim began a relationship with the Russian pianist Elena Bashkirova, with whom he has two sons born in Paris prior to du Pré's death: David Arthur, born 1983, and Michael, born 1985. Barenboim tried to keep his relationship with Bashkirova hidden from du Pré and believed he had succeeded. He and Bashkirova married in 1988. Their son David is a manager-writer for the German hip-hop band Level 8, and Michael is a classical violinist.^[10]

Barenboim holds citizenship of Argentina and Israel, as well as citizenship of Spain and Palestine,^[11] and lives in Berlin.^[12]

Career[link]

(l-r) Peter Kirchner, President of Germany Richard von Weizsäcker, and Barenboim visit Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weissensee (1990)

After performing in Buenos Aires, Barenboim made his international debut as a pianist in 1952 in Vienna and Rome. In 1955 he performed in Paris, in 1956 in London, and in 1957 in New York under the baton of Leopold Stokowski. Regular concert tours of Europe, the United States, South America, Australia and the Far East followed thereafter.

His friendship with musicians Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, and Pinchas Zukerman, and marriage to du Pré led to the 1969 film by Christopher Nupen of their Schubert "Trout" Quintet.^[13]

Following his debut as a conductor with the English Chamber Orchestra in Abbey Road Studios, London in 1966, Barenboim was invited to conduct by many European and American symphony orchestras. Between 1975 and 1989 he was music director of the Orchestre de Paris, where he conducted much contemporary music.

Barenboim made his opera conducting debut in 1973 with a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Edinburgh Festival. He made his debut at Bayreuth in 1981, conducting there regularly until 1999. In 1988 he was appointed artistic and musical director of the Opera-Bastille in Paris, scheduled to open in 1990, but was fired in January 1989 by the opera's chairman Pierre Bergé.^[14] Barenboim was then appointed music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a post he held until 17 June 2006. He expressed frustration with the need for fund-raising duties in the United States as part of being a music director of an American orchestra.^[10]

Since 1992 he has been music director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Berlin State Opera) and the Berlin Staatskapelle, succeeding in maintaining the independent status of the Staatsoper. He has tried to maintain the orchestra's traditional sound and style.^[15] In autumn 2000 he was made conductor for life of the Berlin Staatskapelle.^[16] On 15 May 2006 Barenboim was named principal guest conductor of La Scala opera house, in Milan, after Riccardo Muti's resignation.^[17] In October 2011 he took over as music director,^[1] lining up a starry opening cast in Mozart's Don Giovanni.^[18]

Daniel Barenboim leads a rehearsal of the West-East Divan in Sevilla, Spain, 2005

Rehearsal of the West-East Divan under the lead of Daniel Barenboim, 2005

In 2006, Barenboim was the BBC Reith Lecturer, giving five lectures called 'In the Beginning was Sound' from London, Chicago, Berlin, and twice from Jerusalem in which he meditated on music.^[19] In the autumn of 2006, Barenboim gave the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University entitled 'Sound and Thought'.^[20]

In November 2006, Lorin Maazel submitted Barenboim's name as his nominee to succeed him as the NYP's music director.^[21] Barenboim said he was flattered but "nothing could be further from my thoughts at the moment than the possibility of returning to the United States for a permanent position."^[22] In January 2007, Barenboim further demurred on this question by stating his lack of interest in any United States music directorship, "at the moment."^[23] In April 2007, Barenboim stated he was not interested in the New York Philharmonic's music directorship or their newly created principal conductor position.^[24]

Barenboim made his conducting debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for the House's 450th performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde on 28 November 2008. In 2009, he conducted the New Year Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic and 2014 Edition.^[25]

Musical style[link]

Barenboim has rejected musical fashions based on current musicological research, such as the authentic performance movement. A notable example is his preference for some conventional practices, rather than fully adhering to Bärenreiter's new edition (edited by Jonathan Del Mar) of Beethoven's symphonies, in his recording of those works.^[26]

Barenboim has opposed the practice of choosing the tempo of a piece based on historical evidence, such as composer metronome marks. He argues instead for finding the tempo from within the music, especially from its harmony and harmonic rhythm. The general tempi chosen in his recording of Beethoven's symphonies, reflecting this belief, usually adhere to early twentieth-century practices, and are not influenced by faster tempos chosen by other conductors such as David Zinman and authentic movement advocate Roger Norrington. In Barenboim's recording of the Well-Tempered Clavier he makes frequent use of the right-foot sustaining pedal, a device absent from the keyboard instruments of Bach's time (although the harpsichord was highly resonant), producing a sonority very different from the "dry" and often staccato sound favored by the influential (and highly individual) pianist Glenn Gould. Moreover, in the fugues, one voice is often played considerably louder than the others, a practice impossible on a harpsichord, which according to some scholarship, began in Beethoven's time (see, for example, Matthew Dirst's book The Iconic Bach). Indeed, when justifying his interpretation of Bach, Barenboim claims that he is interested in the long tradition of playing Bach, that has existed for two and a half centuries, rather than in the exact style of performance that existed in Bach's time:

The study of old instruments and historic performance practice has taught us a great deal, but the main point, the impact of harmony, has been ignored. This is proved by the fact that tempo is described as an independent phenomenon. It is claimed that one of Bach's gavottes must be played fast and another one slowly. But tempo is not independent! ... I think that concerning oneself purely with historic performance practice and the attempt to reproduce the sound of older styles of music-making is limiting and no indication of progress. Mendelssohn and Schumann tried to introduce Bach into their own period, as did Liszt with his transcriptions and Busoni with his arrangements. In America Leopold Stokowski also tried to do it with his arrangements for orchestra. This was always the result of "progressive" efforts to bring Bach closer to the particular period. I have no philosophical problem with someone playing Bach and making it sound like Boulez. My problem is more with someone who tries to imitate the sound of that time...^[27]

Barenboim's performances have also been criticized. Among musicians, he has a reputation for arrogance and aloofness. Reviews of his work often cite inconsistencies in interpretation and tempo.^[28]

Recordings[link]

In the beginning of his career, Barenboim concentrated on music of the classical era, as well as some romantic composers. He made his first recording in 1954. Notable classical recordings include the complete cycles of Mozart's and Beethoven's piano sonatas, and Mozart's piano concertos (in the latter, taking part as both soloist and conductor). Notable Romantic recordings include Brahms's piano concertos (with John Barbirolli), Mendelssohn's Lieder ohne Worte, and Chopin's nocturnes. Barenboim also recorded many chamber works, especially in collaboration with his first wife, Jacqueline du Pré, the violinist Itzhak Perlman, and the violinist and violist Pinchas Zukerman. Noted performances include: the complete Mozart violin sonatas (with Perlman), Brahms's violin sonatas (live concert with Perlman, previously in the studio with Zukerman), Beethoven's and Brahms's cello sonatas (with du Pré), Beethoven's and Tchaikovsky's piano trios (with du Pré and Zukerman), and Schubert's Trout Quintet (with du Pré, Perlman, Zukerman, and Zubin Mehta).

Notable recordings as a conductor include: the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Schubert and Schumann, the Da Ponte operas of Mozart, numerous operas by Wagner, including the complete Ring Cycle, and various concertos. Barenboim has written about his changing attitude to the music of Gustav Mahler;^[29] he has recorded Mahler's Fifth, Seventh and Ninth Symphonies and Das Lied von der Erde. He has also performed and recorded the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo and Heitor Villa-Lobos guitar concerto with John Williams as the guitar soloist.

By the late 1990s, Barenboim had widened his concert repertoire, performing works by baroque as well as twentieth-century classical composers. Examples include: Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (which he has played since childhood) and Goldberg Variations, Albeniz's Iberia, and Debussy's preludes. In addition, he turned to other musical genres, such as jazz,^[30] and the folk music of his birthplace, Argentina. He conducted the 2006 New Year's Eve concert in Buenos Aires, in which tangos were played.^[31]

Barenboim has continued to perform and record chamber music, sometimes with members of the orchestras he has led. Some examples include the Quartet for the End of Time by Messiaen with members of the Orchestre de Paris during his tenure there, Richard Strauss with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during his tenure there, and the Clarinet Trio of Mozart with members of the Berlin Staatskapelle.

Conducting Wagner in Israel[link]

Prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, Jewish musicians in Palestine avoided playing Wagner's music because of the use Nazi Germany had made of the composer and because of Wagner's own anti-Semitic writings, which "made anti-Semitism culturally respectable, and generally facilitated the diffusion of racial doctrines."^[32] In 1938, the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra had performed Wagner's music,^[33] although the well-known rule was that Wagner was "not played by the [Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra]."^[34]

This informal ban continued when Israel was founded in 1948, but from time to time unsuccessful efforts were made to end it.^[35] In 1974,^[36] and again in 1981, Zubin Mehta planned to lead the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in works of Wagner. During the latter occasion, fist fights broke out in the audience and the music was not played.^[37]

Barenboim, who had been selected to head the production of Wagner's operas at the 1988 Bayreuth Festival,^[38] had since at least 1989 publicly opposed the Israeli ban. In that year, he had the Israel Philharmonic "rehearse" two of Wagner's works.^[39] In a conversation with Edward Said, Barenboim said that "Wagner, the person, is absolutely appalling, despicable, and, in a way, very difficult to put together with the music he wrote, which so often has exactly the opposite kind of feelings ... noble, generous, etc." He called Wagner's anti-Semitism obviously "monstrous," and feels it must be faced, and argues that "Wagner did not cause the Holocaust."

In 1990, Barenboim conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in its first appearance in Israel, but he excluded Wagner's works. "Although Wagner died in 1883, he is not played [in Israel] because his music is too inextricably linked with Nazism, and so is too painful for those who suffered," Barenboim told a reporter. "Why play what hurts people?"^[40] Not long afterwards, it was announced that Barenboim would lead the Israel Philharmonic in two Wagner overtures,^[41] which took place on December 27 "before a carefully screened audience."^[42]

In 2000, the Israel Supreme Court upheld the right of the Rishon LeZion Orchestra to perform Wagner's Siegfried Idyll.^[43] At the Israel Festival in Jerusalem in July 2001, Barenboim had scheduled to perform the first act of Die Walküre with three singers, including tenor Plácido Domingo. However, strong protests by some Holocaust survivors, as well as the Israeli government, led the festival authorities to ask for an alternative program. (The Israel Festival's Public Advisory board, which included some Holocaust survivors, had originally approved the program.)^[44] The controversy appeared to end in May, after the Israel Festival announced that a selection by Wagner would not be included at the July 7 concert.^[45] Barenboim agreed to substitute music by Robert Schumann and Igor Stravinsky.

However, at the end of the concert with the Berlin Staatskapelle, Barenboim announced that he would like to play Wagner as a second encore and invited those who objected to leave, saying, "Despite what the Israel Festival believes, there are people sitting in the audience for whom Wagner does not spark Nazi associations. I respect those for whom these associations are oppressive. It will be democratic to play a Wagner encore for those who wish to hear it. I am turning to you now and asking whether I can play Wagner." A half-hour debate ensued, with some audience members calling Barenboim a "fascist." In the end, a small number of attendees walked out and the overwhelming majority remained, applauding loudly after the performance of the Tristan und Isolde overture.^[46]

Concert-goers outside of Israel had a mixed response to Barenboim's action. In September 2001, a public relations associate for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where Barenboim was the Music Director, revealed that season ticket holders were about evenly-divided about the wisdom of Barenboim's decision to play Wagner in Jerusalem.^[47]

Barenboim regarded the performance of Wagner at the July 7 concert as a political statement, and said he had decided to defy the ban on Wagner when a news conference he held the previous week was interrupted by the ringing of a mobile phone to the tune of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.^[48] "I thought if it can be heard on the ring of a telephone, why can't it be played in a concert hall?" he said.^[49]

A Knesset committee subsequently called for Barenboim to be declared a persona non grata in Israel until he apologized for conducting Wagner's music.^[50] The move was condemned by the musical director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Zubin Mehta and members of Knesset.^[51] Prior to receiving the $100,000 Wolf Prize, awarded annually in Israel, Barenboim said, "If people were really hurt, of course I regret this, because I don’t want to harm anyone."^[52]

In 2005, Barenboim gave the inaugural Edward Said Memorial Lecture at Columbia University, entitled, "Wagner, Israel and Palestine".^[53] During the two-hour speech, Barenboim "compared Herzl's ideas to Wagner's; criticized Palestinian terrorist attacks but also justified them; and said Israeli actions contributed to the rise of international anti-Semitism."^[54]

In 2010, before conducting Wagner's Die Walküre for the gala premiere of La Scala's season in Milan, he said that the perception of Wagner was unjustly influenced by the fact that he was Hitler's favorite composer: "I think a bit of the problem with Wagner isn't what we all know in Israel, anti-Semitism, etc... It is how the Nazis and Hitler saw Wagner as his own prophet... This perception of Hitler colors for many people the perception of Wagner... We need one day to liberate Wagner of all this weight."^[55]

Over the years observers of the Wagner battle have weighed in on both sides of the issue.^[56]

Political views[link]

Barenboim, a supporter of Palestinian rights, is an outspoken critic of Israel's right-wing governments and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. In an interview with the British music critic Norman Lebrecht in 2003, Barenboim accused Israel of behaving in a manner which was, "morally abhorrent and strategically wrong", and, "putting in danger the very existence of the state of Israel."^[57] However, in 1967 at the start of the Six-Day War, Barenboim and du Pré had performed for the Israeli troops on the front lines, as well as during the Yom Kippur war in 1973. During the Gulf War, he and an orchestra performed in Israel in gas masks.^[58]

West-Eastern Divan[link]

In 1999, Barenboim and Palestinian-American intellectual Edward Said jointly founded the West-Eastern Divan orchestra.^[59][60] It is an initiative to bring together, every summer, a group of young classical musicians from Israel, the Palestinian territories and Arab countries to promote mutual reflection and understanding.^[61][62][63] Barenboim and Said were recipients of the 2002 Prince of Asturias Awards for their work in "improving understanding between nations." Together they wrote the book Parallels and Paradoxes, based on a series of public discussions held at New York's Carnegie Hall.^[64]

In September 2005, presenting the book written with Said, Barenboim refused to be interviewed by uniformed Israel Defense Forces Radio reporter Dafna Arad, considering the wearing of the uniform insensitive for the occasion. In response, Israeli Education Minister Limor Livnat of the Likud party called him "a real Jew hater" and "a real anti-Semite".^[65] In July 2012, Barenboim and the orchestra will play a pivotal role at the BBC Proms, performing a cycle of Beethoven's nine symphonies, the ninth timed to coincide with the opening of the London Olympic Games.^[66]

Wolf Prize[link]

In May 2004, Barenboim was awarded the Wolf Prize at a ceremony at the Israeli Knesset. Education Minister Livnat held up the nomination until Barenboim apologized for his performance of Wagner in Israel.^[67] Barenboim called Livnat's demand "politically motivated", adding "I don't see what I need to apologize about. If I ever hurt a person privately or in public, I am sorry, because I have no intention of hurting people...", which was good enough for Livnat,^[68] but the ceremony was boycotted by Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, also a member of the Likud party.^[69] In his acceptance speech, Barenboim took the opportunity to express his opinions on the political situation, referring to the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948:

"I am asking today with deep sorrow: Can we, despite all our achievements, ignore the intolerable gap between what the Declaration of Independence promised and what was fulfilled, the gap between the idea and the realities of Israel? Does the condition of occupation and domination over another people fit the Declaration of Independence? Is there any sense in the independence of one at the expense of the fundamental rights of the other? Can the Jewish people whose history is a record of continued suffering and relentless persecution, allow themselves to be indifferent to the rights and suffering of a neighboring people? Can the State of Israel allow itself an unrealistic dream of an ideological end to the conflict instead of pursuing a pragmatic, humanitarian one based on social justice?"^[70]

Israel's President Moshe Katsav and Education Minister Livnat criticized Barenboim for his speech. Livnat accused him of attacking the state of Israel, to which Barenboim replied that he had not done so, but that he instead had merely cited the text of the Israeli Declaration of Independence.^[71] In March 2007, Barenboim said: "The whole subject of Wagner in Israel has been politicized and is a symptom of a malaise that goes very deep in Israeli society..."^[72]