Egon Bahr
Encyclopedia
Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr is a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 politician.

The former journalist was the creator of the "Ostpolitik
Ostpolitik
Neue Ostpolitik , or Ostpolitik for short, refers to the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic beginning in 1969...

" promoted by West German Chancellor Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , 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 1964–1987....

, for whom he served as Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office from 1969 until 1972. Between 1972 and 1990 he was an MP in the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...

 of the Federal Republic of Germany and from 1972 until 1976 was also a Minister of the Federal Government.

Bahr was a key figure in multiple negotiation sessions between not only East and West Germany, but also Germany and the Soviets. In addition to his instrumental role in Ostpolitik
Ostpolitik
Neue Ostpolitik , or Ostpolitik for short, refers to the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic beginning in 1969...

, Bahr was also an influential voice in negotiating the Treaty of Moscow, the Treaty of Warsaw
Treaty of Warsaw (1970)
The Treaty of Warsaw was a treaty between West Germany and the People's Republic of Poland. It was signed by Chancellor Willy Brandt and Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz at the Presidential Palace on 7 December 1970, and it was ratified by the German Bundestag on 17 May 1972.In the treaty, both...

, the Transit Treaty of 1971, and the Basic Treaty of 1972.

As a politician, Bahr understood himself as motivated by a sense of maintaining "the national integrity" of Germany as a whole as much as possible.

Life and career

After completing his secondary education in 1940, Bahr continued his education as an industrial specialist at the Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and defence company with factories in Düsseldorf, Kassel and Unterlüß. The company has a long tradition of making guns and artillery pieces...

-Borsig armament corporation in Berlin. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Bahr served as a soldier in the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

 from 1942 until 1944, ultimately in the capacity of “Fahnenjunker” (cadet
Cadet
A cadet is a trainee to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. The term comes from the term "cadet" for younger sons of a noble family.- Military context :...

) in the Luftkriegsschule VI in Kitzingen
Kitzingen
Kitzingen is a town in the German state of Bavaria, capital of the district Kitzingen. It is part of Franconia geographical region and has around 21,000 inhabitants.Surrounded by vineyards, Kitzingen County is the largest wine producer in Bavaria...

. He was, however, demoted after being accused of being non-Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...

 (on account of an allegedly Jewish grandmother) and, thus, having “snuck into the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

”. Thereafter, he received a posting as an armaments worker at Rheinmetall-Borsig.

After the war, Bahr worked as a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 at the Berliner Zeitung
Berliner Zeitung
The Berliner Zeitung, founded in 1945, is a German center-left daily newspaper based in Berlin, published by Berliner Verlag. It is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since unification. In 2003, the Berliner was Berlin's largest subscription newspaper—the weekend...

, one of Berlin’s prominent daily newspapers. He later worked at two other Berliner periodicals, the Allgemeine Zeitung (Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

) and Der Tagesspiegel
Der Tagesspiegel
Der Tagesspiegel is a classical liberal German daily newspaper...

(Berlin). From 1950 to 1960, he served as chief commentator of the Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

 bureau of RIAS
Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor
RIAS was a radio and television station in the American Sector of Berlin during the Cold War. It was founded by the US occupational authorities after World War II in 1946 to provide the German population in and around Berlin with news and political reporting and was initially only broadcast on...

, (“ Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor”, or “Broadcasting in the American Sector”). In 1959, he received his posting as press attaché to the German Embassy in Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

. From 1984 to 1994, Bahr served as the Director of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...

, from which he received an honorary professorship in 1984.

Bahr is married and has three children.

Political affiliation

Bahr has been a member of the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 since 1956. From 1976 until 1981, he served as executive director (Bundesgeschäftsführer) of the SPD. During his tenure in that position, Bahr drew attention amid the uproar surrounding the expulsion of Klaus Uwe Benneter
Klaus Uwe Benneter
Klaus Uwe Benneter is a German politician and member of the SPD. He is widowed and has one son.- Education and early life :...

, who at that time had been serving as the Federal Chairman of Jusos (JungsozialistInnen in der SPD, or “Young Socialists in the SPD”. Benneter had piqued much political ire by expressing the view that the German Communist Party
German Communist Party
The German Communist Party is a Marxist-Leninist party in Germany.-History:The DKP was formed in West Germany in 1968, in order to fill the place of the Communist Party of Germany , which had been banned by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1956...

 could be a potential coalition partner for the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

, a statement that put the status of the youth organization into jeopardy.

Member of the Bundestag

Bahr served from 1972 until 1990 as a member of the German Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...

. He was directly elected in 1976 and 1980 as the representative of the Schleswig-Flensburg
Schleswig-Flensburg
Schleswig-Flensburg is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Dithmarschen and Nordfriesland, the Region Syddanmark in Denmark, the city of Flensburg and the Baltic Sea.-History:Written history in the area began about 800 AD, when the...

 electoral district; in the remaining elections, he was elected as part of he SPD’s party list
Party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected...

. Bahr also served as chairman of the Sub-Committee for Disarmament and Arms Control.

Other public offices

From 1960 to 1966, Bahr was the head of the Press and Information Office for the Land of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 (at that time, West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...

). In that capacity, Bahr served as the spokesman for the Senate of Berlin
Senate of Berlin
The Senate of Berlin is the executive body governing the city of Berlin, which at the same time is a state of Germany. According to the Constitution of Berlin the Senate consists of the Governing Mayor of Berlin and up to eight Senators appointed by the Governing Mayor, two of whom are appointed ...

, which was led at that time by Mayor Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , 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 1964–1987....

. From 1966 to 1969, Bahr served as an ambassador and as Ministerial Director of the Planning Staff of the German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt).

Bahr is considered to have been one of the most important and most influential advisors of Willy Brandt, especially with respect to the latter’s policy of Ostpolitik
Ostpolitik
Neue Ostpolitik , or Ostpolitik for short, refers to the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic beginning in 1969...

 (“Eastern Policy”, also known as “‘’Entspannungspolitik’’”, the German equivalent of "détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...

").

Following the West German federal election of 1969, Bahr became Secretary of State of the German Chancellery
German Chancellery
The German Chancellery is a federal agency serving the executive office of the Chancellor, the head of the German federal government. The chief of the Chancellery holds the rank of either a Secretary of State or a Federal Minister ...

 as well as Bevollmächtigter (“commissioner” or “appointed representative”) of the Federal Cabinet of Germany in Berlin. It was in this capacity that Bahr served as an emissary and negotiator with Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 with respect to the Treaty of Moscow, the Treaty of Warsaw
Treaty of Warsaw (1970)
The Treaty of Warsaw was a treaty between West Germany and the People's Republic of Poland. It was signed by Chancellor Willy Brandt and Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz at the Presidential Palace on 7 December 1970, and it was ratified by the German Bundestag on 17 May 1972.In the treaty, both...

, as well as the Transit Treaty of 1971 and the Basic Treaty of 1972 that were concluded with the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...

. On the basis of his success in guiding these treaties to successful conclusion, Bahr is often referred to as “Architect of the Eastern Treaties”. He is also credited with two of the Brandt government’s most influential mottos describing West Germany’s relationship with the German Democratic Republic, “Wandel durch Annäherung” ("change through rapprochement") and “Politik der kleinen Schritten” (“policy of small steps”).

With respect to Ostpolitik, Bahr's field of work was mostly behind the curtains to prepare treaties. This secrecy was broken once, however. Bahr was in Moscow holding talks with Gromyko, and materials from these talks found their way, via an unknown leak, to the tabloid newspaper Bild. On July 1, 1970, they appeared in two issues. This unauthorized publication became known as the "Bahr Paper".

Following Willy Brandt’s resignation
Guillaume Affair
The Guillaume Affair was an espionage scandal in the Cold War history of Germany. The scandal revolved around the exposure of an East German spy within the West German government and had far-reaching political repercussions in Germany, the most prominent being the resignation of West German...

 of the Chancellery, Bahr also relinquished his position in the cabinet. He was, however, reappointed by Brandt’s successor, Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Schmidt
Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt is a German Social Democratic politician who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Prior to becoming chancellor, he had served as Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance. He had also served briefly as Minister of Economics and as acting...

 (SPD), to the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. On 14 December 1976, following the federal elections that had taken place two months earlier, Bahr left his position in the Federal Government permanently.

Other political activities and initiatives

In 1980, Bahr became a member of the Independent Commission for Disarmament and Security under the chairmanship of Swedish politician Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...

. The Commission published its findings in a 1982 report titled “Common Security”. Among the report’s recommendations was the concept of a nuclear-free corridor
Nuclear-free zone
A nuclear-free zone is an area where nuclear weapons and nuclear power are banned. The specific ramifications of these depend on the locale in question....

 in Central Europe.

Bahr went on to publish various writings about the future of German foreign policy following the end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 (see “Publications” below). He advocated among other things for Europe and Germany to exercise greater influence in the world in the context of a “civilizing force” (“Zivilmacht"). In 1991, Bahr promoted discussion of the creation of a potential German peace corps.

In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , short F.A.Z., also known as the FAZ, is a national German newspaper, founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt am Main. The Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .F.A.Z...

in 2005, Bahr confessed that, as a teenager, he had felt a “certain pride” that Poland, France, Denmark, and Norway had been conquered so quickly by the German Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

. According to a book by German politicians Bernhard and Hans-Jochen Vogel
Hans-Jochen Vogel
Hans-Jochen Vogel is a politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.- Early years and professional career :...

, Bahr reportedly said at the beginning of November 1989, “For heaven’s sake, let’s stop dreaming and blathering about German unity”; the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...

 fell only days later on 9 November 1989.

Selected honors

In 1973, Bahr was awarded the ‘’Bundesverdienstkreuz’’ (“Federal Cross of Merit”). He named an honorary citizen of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 in 2002. Bahr was honored in 2007 with the Willy Brandt Prize by the German-Norwegian Willy-Brandt-Foundation and in 2008 with both the Göttingen Peace Prize and the Marion Dönhoff Preis. Bahr also received an honorary doctorate in 2008 from the Internationale Hochschulinstitut Zittau
Zittau
Zittau is a city in the south east of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, close to the border tripoint of Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. , there are 28,638 people in the city. It is part of the Görlitz district....

 in recognition of his service to the process of unifying Europe. In January 2010, he receied the Order of Merit (‘’Verdienstorden’’) of North Rhine-Westphalia

Published works

  • Zu meiner Zeit. Munich 1996, ISBN 3-89667-001-8 (Bahr’s autobiography)
  • Willy Brandts europäische Außenpolitik (Schriftenreihe der Bundeskanzler-Willy-Brandt-Stiftung, Heft 3). Berlin 1999
  • Deutsche Interessen: Streitschrift zu Macht, Sicherheit und Außenpolitik. Munich 2000, ISBN 3-442-75593-X
  • Der deutsche Weg: Selbstverständlich und normal. Munich 2003, ISBN 3-89667-244-4
  • Plädoyer für eine transatlantische Arbeitsteilung. in: Jäger, Thomas / Höse, Alexander / Oppermann, Kai (eds.) 2005: Transatlantische Beziehungen: Sicherheit – Wirtschaft – Öffentlichkeit, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden pp. 489-495, ISBN 3-531-14579-7

Literature

  • Andreas Vogtmeier: Egon Bahr und die deutsche Frage. Zur Entwicklung der sozialdemokratischen Ost- und Deutschlandpolitik vom Kriegsende bis zur Vereinigung. (Reihe Politik- und Gesellschaftsgeschichte, Band 44), Bonn 1996.
  • Daniel Friedrich Sturm: „Metternich“ in Moskau. Egon Bahrs Wandel durch Annäherung. In: Deutschland Archiv. Jg. 42, Nr. 5, 2009, pp. 841–846

Weblinks

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