Egon Bahr
Bahr in 1969
Federal Manager of the
Social Democratic Party
In office
15 December 1976  23 February 1981
LeaderWilly Brandt
Preceded byHolger Börner
Succeeded byPeter Glotz
Minister for Economic Cooperation
In office
8 July 1974  14 December 1976
ChancellorHelmut Schmidt
Preceded byErhard Eppler
Succeeded byMarie Schlei
Minister for Special Affairs
In office
15 December 1972  16 May 1974
Serving with Werner Maihofer
ChancellorWilly Brandt
Preceded byHorst Ehmke
Succeeded byWolfgang Schäuble (1984)
State Secretary in the Chancellery
Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin
In office
1969–1972
ChancellorWilly Brandt
Preceded byCarl Krautwig
Succeeded byDietrich Spangenberg
Bundestag constituencies
Member of the Bundestag
for Schleswig-Holstein
In office
29 March 1983  20 December 1990
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded bymulti-member district
ConstituencySocial Democratic Party List
In office
14 December 1976  29 March 1983
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byHarm Dallmeyer
ConstituencyFlensburg – Schleswig
In office
13 December 1972  14 December 1976
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded bymulti-member district
ConstituencySocial Democratic Party List
Personal details
Born
Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr

(1922-03-18)18 March 1922
Treffurt, Province of Saxony, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic (now Thuringia, Germany)
Died19 August 2015(2015-08-19) (aged 93)
Berlin, Germany
Political partySocial Democratic Party (1956–2015)
Spouses
Dorothea Grob
(m. 1945; died 2011)
    Adelheid Bonnemann-Böhner
    (m. 2011)
    Children3
    Occupation
    • Politician
    • Journalist
    • Diplomat
    • Civil Servant
    Military service
    Allegiance Germany
    Branch/serviceBalkenkreuz (Iron Cross) Luftwaffe
    Years of service1942–1944
    RankFahnenjunker
    UnitLuftkriegsschule VI
    Battles/warsWorld War II

    Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr (German pronunciation: [ˈeːɡɔn kaʁlˈhaɪnts ˈbaːɐ̯]; 18 March 1922 19 August 2015) was a German SPD politician.[1]

    The former journalist was the creator of the Ostpolitik promoted by West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, for whom he served as Secretary of State in the German Chancellery from 1969 until 1972. Between 1972 and 1990 he was an MP in the Bundestag 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 West Germany and the Soviet Union. In addition to his instrumental role in Ostpolitik, Bahr was also an influential voice in negotiating the Treaty of Moscow, the Treaty of Warsaw, the Transit Treaty of 1971, and the Basic Treaty of 1972.

    Life and career

    Bahr was born in Treffurt, in the Prussian Province of Saxony, the son of Hedwig and Karl Bahr, a high school teacher.[2] After completing his secondary education in 1940, Bahr continued his education as an industrial specialist at the Rheinmetall-Borsig armament corporation in Berlin. During World War II, Bahr served as a soldier in the Wehrmacht from 1942 until 1944, ultimately in the capacity of “Fahnenjunker” (cadet) in the Luftkriegsschule VI in Kitzingen. He was, however, demoted after being accused of being non-Aryan (on account of his Jewish grandmother) and, thus, having "sneaked into the Wehrmacht”.[3] Thereafter, he received a posting as an armaments worker at Rheinmetall-Borsig.

    After the war, Bahr worked as a journalist at the Berliner Zeitung, one of West Berlin's prominent daily newspapers. He later worked at two other West Berliner periodicals, the Allgemeine Zeitung (West Berlin) and Der Tagesspiegel (West Berlin).[4] From 1950 to 1960, he served as chief commentator of the Bonn bureau of RIAS, (“ Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor”, or "Broadcasting in the American Sector"). In 1959, he received his posting as press attaché to the West German Embassy in Ghana. From 1984 to 1994, Bahr served as the Director of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, from which he received an honorary professorship in 1984. Bahr was married and had three children. On 19 August 2015 Bahr died at the age of 93.[5][2]

    Political activity

    Bahr was a member of the SPD from 1956 until his death in 2015. From 1960 to 1966 Bahr was the head of the Press and Information Office for the Land of Berlin (at that time, West Berlin). In that capacity, Bahr served as the spokesman for the Senate of Berlin, which was led at the time by Mayor Willy Brandt. 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 to Willy Brandt, especially with respect to the latter's policy of Ostpolitik ("Eastern Policy", also known as “‘'Entspannungspolitik'’”, the German equivalent of "détente").

    Following the West German federal election of 1969, Bahr became Secretary of State of the German Chancellery 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 to and negotiator with Moscow with respect to the 1970 Treaty of Moscow and the 1970 Treaty of Warsaw, as well as the Transit Treaty of 1971 and the Basic Treaty of 1972 that were concluded with the German Democratic Republic. 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", a speech at the Evangelische Akademie Tutzing) and “Politik der kleinen Schritte” ("policy of small steps").[6]

    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 Andrei Gromyko, and materials from these talks found their way, via an unknown leak, to the tabloid newspaper Bild. On 1 July 1970, they appeared in two issues. This unauthorized publication became known as the "Bahr Paper".[7]

    Following Willy Brandt's resignation of the Chancellery, Bahr also relinquished his position in the cabinet. He was, however, reappointed by Brandt's successor, Helmut Schmidt (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.

    Bahr served from 1972 until 1990 as a member of the German Bundestag. He was directly elected in 1976 and 1980 as the representative of the Schleswig-Flensburg electoral district; in the remaining elections, he was elected from the SPD's party list. Bahr also served as chairman of the Sub-Committee for Disarmament and Arms Control. In 1980, Bahr became a member of the Independent Commission for Disarmament and Security under the chairmanship of Swedish politician Olof Palme. 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 in Central Europe.

    Bahr in 1978.

    From 1976 until 1981, he served as the 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, 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 could be a potential coalition partner for the SPD, a statement that put the status of the youth organization into jeopardy.

    On 27 November 1988 he described the demands for German reunification as "Sunday talk, (...) lies, hypocrisy that poisoned us and others, political pollution."[8] On 1 November 1989, in an interview in the Vorwärts, Bahr said: "For heaven’s sake, let’s stop dreaming and blathering about German unity"; the Berlin Wall fell only eight days later on 9 November 1989.[9] Five days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he called it a "delusion to talk about reunification."[10]

    Bahr went on to publish various writings about the future of German foreign policy following the end of the Cold War (see "Publications" below). He advocated among other things for Europe and Germany to exercise greater influence in the world as a "Civilian power" (“Zivilmacht"). In 1991, Bahr promoted discussion of the creation of a potential German peace corps.

    In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 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.[11]

    Quotes

    "I have only ever been interested in ‘'Deutschlandpolitik'’. I didn’t become a Social Democrat in order to socialize banks. No, I became a Social Democrat because I was of the opinion that Adenauer did not really mean it [that Germany should be reunited], and that Schumacher really did mean it. I was always certain that Reunification would finally be achieved. I never lost that conviction."[11]

    "Through all that has happened, I have all that I [ever] wanted. The decisive point in the change of mentality was that Wall. We determined in 1961 that everybody was content, that nobody wanted to change the status quo. Nobody was going to help us simply to make holes in it or to make it permeable [referring to his "policy of small steps"]. So it began. And since one could not get travel visas [by negotiating with] Bonn or America or Moscow, one had to negotiate with those who were authorized to give them out."[11]

    Selected honors

    In 1973, Bahr was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz ("Federal Cross of Merit"). He was named an honorary citizen of Berlin in 2002. In 2007, Bahr was honored 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 received an honorary doctorate in 2008 from the Internationales Hochschulinstitut Zittau in recognition of his service to the process of unifying Europe.[12] In January 2010, he received the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia.

    Published works

    • Zu meiner Zeit. Blessing, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-89667-001-8 (Bahr's autobiography)
    • Willy Brandts europäische Außenpolitik (Schriftenreihe der Bundeskanzler-Willy-Brandt-Stiftung, Heft 3). Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-933090-02-4
    • Deutsche Interessen: Streitschrift zu Macht, Sicherheit und Außenpolitik. Goldmann, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-442-75593-X
    • Der deutsche Weg: Selbstverständlich und normal. Blessing, 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
    • Ostwärts und nichts vergessen! Kooperation statt Konfrontation. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-89965-504-9.
    • „Das musst du erzählen“ – Erinnerungen an Willy Brandt. Propyläen, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-549-07422-0.
    • Das Prinzip Apfelbaum: 11 Persönlichkeiten zur Frage „Was bleibt?“ herausgegeben von der Initiative „Mein Erbe Tut Gutes. Das Prinzip Apfelbaum“. Fotografien von Bettina Flitner. Vergangenheitsverlag, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-86408-182-8.

    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.

    References

    1. Dennis Kavanagh (1998). "Bahr, Egon". A Dictionary of Political Biography. Oxford University Press. p. 27. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
    2. 1 2 "Egon Bahr, Who Laid Groundwork for German Reunification, Dies at 93". The New York Times. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
    3. Hermann Schreiber (25 December 1972). ""Er denkt zuviel – die Leute sind gefährlich"". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
    4. "Bahr: Viel dazugelernt". Der Spiegel. 9 February 1970. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
    5. www.spiegel.de
    6. Wandel durch Annäherung (PDF), Egon Bahr’s speech from the Evangelische Akademie Tutzing, 15 July 1963 (in German)
    7. "Dealing with the Devil: East Germany, Detente, and Ostpolitik, 1969-1973". M.E. Sarotte, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London, 2001.
    8. "10 JAHRE EINHEIT – WENDEHÄLSE "Illusion, nicht Vision"". focus.de (in German). Focus. 30 September 2000.
    9. Buchbesprechung Ein Unikat im Doppelpack – Hans-Jochen und Bernhard Vogel resümieren ihr politisches Leben und danken dem Herrgott Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
    10. Michael Borchard (1 October 2008). "Schlaglichter der deutschen Einheit. Eine kommentierte Chronik(1987-1990)". kas.de (in German). Konrad Adenauer Foundation. p. 28.
    11. 1 2 3 ‘’FAZ’’ interview with Egon Bahr, 29 April 2005 (in German)
    12. "Presseportal: Internationales Hochschulinstitut Zittau – Ehrendoktorwürde für Egon Bahr / Würdigung eines Vordenkers der grenzüberschreitenden Hochschulpartnerschaft des Internationalen Hochschulinstituts Zittau". Archived from the original on 6 June 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
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