Willy Brandt summary

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Willy Brandt, orig. Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm, (born Dec. 18, 1913, Lübeck, Ger.—died Oct. 8/9, 1992, Unkel, near Bonn), German statesman. As a young Social Democrat, he fled to Norway to avoid arrest after the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s. There he assumed the name Willy Brandt and worked as a journalist. Returning to Germany after World War II, he was elected to parliament in 1949 and became mayor of West Berlin (1957–66), a post in which he achieved world fame. He led a coalition government as chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (1969–74). As chancellor, he improved relations with East Germany, other communist nations in eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union and helped strengthen the European Economic Community. For these efforts he received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1971. He remained the leader of the Social Democratic Party until 1987.

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