From Brandt to Kohl - times of change

I am pleased to announce that on 25 October 2018 I took part in an event organized by the Nobel House in Szczecin, dedicated to the memory of the Nobel Prize winner Willy Brandt. The event was co-organised by the Szczecin University Collegium Balticum and the Feliks Nowowiejski State Music School Complex in Szczecin.

The profile of the Nobel Prize winner was presented by Dr Janusz Jartyś, a political scientist from Szczecin. The event was interwoven with musical pieces by the world's greatest composers (e.g. Jan Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Edward Grieg, Fryderyk Chopin), which were performed by music school students.

In his political career, Willy Brandt (or rather Karl Herbert Frahm) performed such functions as the Mayor of Berlin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and finally the German Chancellor.

Willy Brandt made a special contribution to international relations between Poland and Germany, as well as to peacekeeping activities. During his reign, among other things, a conclusion was reached:

- the agreement on the normalisation of mutual relations with the USSR.

- the agreement with Poland.

Thanks to his efforts, Germany was admitted to the United Nations Organization.

Poles particularly appreciate his gesture of reconciliation, when during his visit to Warsaw in December 1970 he paid homage to the victims of the ghetto by kneeling (Kniefall von Warschau) at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes.

This gesture became a symbol of Willy Brandt's new policy of opening up to Eastern European countries separated by the "Iron Curtain" and one of the moral foundations of the Federal Republic.

In 1971, Willy Brandt received the Nobel Peace Prize for his eastern policy.

Berlin, Warsaw, Poznań, 31.10.2018

      Ewa Kosowska-Czapla   

Attorney-at-law/ Restructuring adviser

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