How My Life Has Played Out So Far

April 29, 1969

My name is Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm, but people know me as Willy Brandt. I was born on December 18, 1913 in the Free City of Lubeck. Born to an unwed mother named Martha Frahm, I was mainly raised by my stepfather, Ludwig Frahm, and his second wife, Dora. Influenced by my father, I joined the “Socialist Youth” in 1929 and the Social Democratic Party in 1930. However, I left the SPD to participate in the more left wing Socialist Workers Party. “The election results (1930) were a shock. The Nazis were talking of putting an end to the Republic, abolishing the free vote, using force. Their so-called 'socialism' meant nothing to us - it was an obvious fraud. I had one school-friend who was an ardent Nazi; he was honest and sincere. I talked to him in order to learn about the Nazis. I came to the conclusion that they represented an unbridled nationalism, devoid of spiritual content. Nazism was brutal and scorned humanity; it was steering in the direction of a new war.” Shortly after elections, I left Germany for Norway in order to escape the Nazi persecution. At Norway, I adopted my current name, Willy Brandt, and helped found the International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth organizations in 1934, which assisted me in being elected as Secretariat. Two years later, I moved back to Germany, disguised as a Norwegian student named Gunnar Gaasland. I married Gertrud Meyer to prevent her deportation. In 1937, I worked in Spain as a journalist. Then, I attempted to obtain Norwegian citizenship in 1938 after the German government took away my citizenship but was arrested in Norway in 1940. Luckily, they were not able to identify me, and I was released to Sweden. After becoming a Norwegian citizen in August, I developed a close relationship with the country. Consequently, I returned to Berlin in 1946 while working for the Norwegian government. “Living in Berlin had a deep emotional effect on me and helped me to make up my mind what to do with myself. The question which had bothered me most was-had Germany enough vital strength left in her? The Berliners gave me the answer; and I found that same quality of endurance which the Norwegians had. The worst possible circumstances seemed to bring out the best in both, too. Conditions in Berlin, finally, reminded me of how much there was to be done for my country.” There, I joined the SPD in 1948 and became a German citizen once more. I held the position as the mayor of West Berlin from the period of 1957 to 1966, during which tensions in the East-West relations led to the creation of the Berlin Wall. In 1964, I became the chairman of SPD. Although I lost the voting for chancellorship in 1961, I was given the position as foreign minister and vice chancellor of the grand coalition between the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. In 1969, my work finally paid off when the SPD formed a coalition government with the Free Democratic Party of Germany, and I was elected as the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. This made me the first Social Democratic chancellor, which gave me the opportunity to open the west to the east.