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The famous kneeling in Warsaw by German Chancellor Willy Brandt on December 7, 1970 was a gesture of humility that still shapes the image of post-war German history today. But how closely were Brandt’s politics connected to Middle East politics?
Then-Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt (center) in conversation with Polish Prime Minister Cyrankiewicz on December 7, 1970 (on the left is German Foreign Minister Walter Scheel).
The fact that Willy Brandt knelt on December 7, 1970 at the Warsaw Ghetto Monument has more than a real political side. From the beginning of their coalition in October 1969, the German Chancellor (SPD) and the then Foreign Minister Walter Scheel (FDP) faced this alternative: “New Ostpolitik” or the traditional Bonn policy on Jews and Israel. Not both and. On the altar of Willy Brandt’s “new Ostpolitik”, the traditional pro-Jewish raison d’être of the Federal Republic of Germany and, derived from it, pro-Israel policy in the Middle East were sacrificed. Why?
