“I was exhausted, for reasons which had nothing to do with the affair [the Guillaume espionage scandal] going on at the time.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
Figure timeline
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for his efforts to strengthen cooperation in Western Europe through the EEC and to achieve reconciliation between West Germany and the countries o…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
culture · Chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974 · journalist · politician · autobiographer · Chancellor of Germany · social democrat · mayor · foreign minister · chancellor · also Willy Brandt, Brandt
Born 18 December 1913 · Died 8 October 1992 · Q2514
100 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
14 photos · 1 audio
🔊 How to say “Willy Brandt”
Listen
De-Willy Brandt
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Award
2026· 1 entry
2021· 1 entry
It became known that Brandt served as a paid informant for the United States Counterintelligence Corps from 1948 to 1952
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2001· 1 entry
Prices, the average standard social assistance benefit level rose from around 200 euros per month in 1969 to over 250 euros per month in 1974
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2000· 1 entry
Awarded Grand cross of the Order of the White Lion (2000).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1992· 4 entries
Died 1992-10-08.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
“I put it down on paper again in the summer of this year: ‘Berlin will live, and the Wall will fall.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
“Those who adhere to the past won't be able to cope with the future.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
“In our modern world, mass hunger, economic stagnation, environmental catastrophe, political instability, and terrorism cannot be quarantined within national borders.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
1991· 1 entry
Prices) from around 300 DM to around 400 DM
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1990· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctorate of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (1990).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1990–1992).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1987· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctorate of the University of Granada (1987).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1987–1990).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1986· 1 entry
Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru (1986).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1983· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1983–1987).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1980· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1980–1983).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1979· 1 entry
Career landmark: Member of the European Parliament (1979–1983).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1976· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1976–1980).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1974· 1 entry
After Günter Guillaume, one of his closest aides, was exposed as an agent of the Stasi, the East German secret service
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1973· 6 entries
Awarded honorary doctorate of Strasbourg-III University (1973).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (1973).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
For the payment and for the basic and further training of staff
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
A measure was introduced that facilitated the adoption of young children by reducing the minimum age for adoptive parents from 35 to 25
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
To organise the recreation of disabled persons, with a holiday guide for the disabled issued with the aid of the Federal Ministry of Family and Youth Affairs and Health in order to help them find suitable holiday accommo
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
The government provided assistance of DM 28 million for the modernisation of old dwellings
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1972· 13 entries
Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Vasa (1972).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Grand Cross of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria (1972).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded honorary citizen of Lübeck (1972).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
With federal financial aid granted to the Lander for improvement measures relating to towns and villages, and in the 1972 budget, DM 50 million was earmarked, i
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
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
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Which permitted for the first time the employment of women as drivers of trams, omnibuses and lorries, while further regulations laid down new provisions for lifts and work with compressed air
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
An Act on Agency Work was passed, which sought to prevent work agencies from providing job placement services and aimed to provide minimum job protection for employees in agency work
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Two Bundeswehr universities were established; a reform which, according to one historian, "fought against the closed nature of the military and guaranteed that officers would be better able to successfully interact with
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Winter payments for construction workers were introduced
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Introduced various safeguards for animals such as not permitting the causing of pain, injury, or suffering to an animal without justification, and limiting experiments to the minimum number of animals necessary
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Along with occupational injury annuities and a special pension for long-standing insurant from the age of 63 and a pension due to "limited earning capacity" from the age of 62
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1972–1976).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
While amnesty was guaranteed for minor offences connected with demonstrations
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1971· 14 entries
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Peace — for paving the way for a meaningful dialogue between East and West.
- #nobel
- #award
- #honour
Awarded Order of the Rising Sun, 1st class (1971).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Won anniversary medal at the occasion of the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Iranian Empire (1971).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
Awarded Nobel Peace Prize (1971).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (1971).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
The retirement age for miners was lowered to 50
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
A law was passed setting the maximum lead content at 0
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
And in 1972 laws were passed to regulate garbage elimination and air pollution via emissions
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Rules were introduced making it possible for former guestworkers "to receive an unlimited residence permit after a five-year stay"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Corporal punishment was banned in schools, and that same year a new Highway Code was introduced
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
The Federal Labour Office made available DM 425 million in the form of loans to provide 157,293 beds in 2,494 hostels
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
To encourage the growth of registered family holiday centres, the Federal Government granted subsidies for the building and appointing of 28 of these centres at a total cost of 8 million DM
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Brandt received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in improving International relations with East Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
For his efforts to strengthen cooperation in Western Europe through the EEC and to achieve reconciliation between West Germany and the countries of Eastern Europe
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1970· 9 entries
Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog (1970).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Time Person of the Year (1970).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
While visiting a memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising crushed by the Germans, Brandt unexpectedly knelt and meditated in silence, a moment remembered as the Kniefall von Warschau
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
All employees unfit for work (except for women in receipt of maternity benefits and temporarily and inconsiderably employed persons) were provided with an unconditional legal claim against their employer to continued pay
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Seagoing pilots became retrospectively insurable and gained full social security as members of the Non-Manual Workers Insurance Institute
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
The government included nonmedical psychotherapists and psychoanalysts in the national health insurance program
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
The Armed Forces Vocational Schools and the Vocational Advancement Organization extended their services for the first time to conscripts, "so far as military duty permitted"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
And by the introduction of a programme for the construction of 200,000 public housing units (1971)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Which ensured continued payment of wages for workers disabled by illness
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1969· 5 entries
Won: Malaysia (1969).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #honour
- #club
- #accolade
Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (1969).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
And nearly one and a half million households received rental assistance
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Career landmark: member of the German Bundestag (1969–1972).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
Career landmark: Federal Chancellor of Germany (1969–1974).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1968· 2 entries
Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon (1968).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Restored diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1967· 2 entries
Awarded Tie Man of the Year (1967).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
With the establishment of diplomatic relations with Romania and making a trade agreement with Czechoslovakia
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1966· 3 entries
Career landmark: Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs (1966–1969).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
Career landmark: Vice-Chancellor of Germany (1966–1969).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
A grand coalition between the SPD and CDU was formed, with Brandt serving as foreign minister and as the 5th Vice Chancellor of Germany
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1965· 2 entries
Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1965).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Brandt ran again, but lost to the popular Ludwig Erhard
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1964· 2 entries
Career landmark: chairman of the Social Democratic Party (1964–1987).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
A post that he retained until 1987, longer than any other party chairman since the founding of the SPD by August Bebel
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1961· 3 entries
Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (1961).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
But he lost to Konrad Adenauer's conservative Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Career landmark: Berlin member of the Bundestag (1961–1961).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1960· 1 entry
Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav (1960).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1959· 1 entry
Awarded Grand Cross 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1959).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1957· 3 entries
Awarded Freedom Award (1957).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Career landmark: Governing Mayor of Berlin (1957–1966).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
Career landmark: President of the Bundesrat of Germany (1957–1958).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1955· 1 entry
Career landmark: president of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin (1955–1957).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1953· 1 entry
Career landmark: Berlin member of the Bundestag (1953–1957).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1951· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin (1951–1971).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1950· 2 entries
Brandt, while a member of the Bundestag and the editor-in-chief of the Berliner Stadtblatt, received a secret payment of about 170,000 Deutsche Mark from the U
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
For promoting his political career, after both had met with the Americans at the German CIA headquarters in Frankfurt
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1949· 1 entry
Career landmark: Berlin member of the Bundestag (1949–1953).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1948· 1 entry
Re-joined the SPD and became a German citizen again, formally adopting the pseudonym Willy Brandt as his legal name
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1940· 1 entry
Was arrested in Norway by occupying German forces, but his real identity was not uncovered as he wore a Norwegian uniform
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1938· 1 entry
The German government revoked his citizenship, so he applied for Norwegian citizenship
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1937· 1 entry
During the Spanish Civil War, Brandt worked in Spain as a journalist
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1934· 1 entry
Took part in the founding of the International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations, and was elected to its secretariat
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1933· 1 entry
Left Germany for Norway to escape Nazi persecution
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1932· 1 entry
At Johanneum zu Lübeck, he took work at the shipbroker and ship's agent F
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1929· 1 entry
And at age 16 became a full member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1930 despite the age minimum normally being 18
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1913· 1 entry
Born 1913-12-18.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth