West Germany. Prime Minister Willy Brandt. This is the first Social Democratic government in postwar Germany, following two decades of conservative Konrad Adenauer. Brandt, for the first time, accepts the Older Neisse River border as Germany’s easternmost border, thus putting an end to Germany’s claim to the territories of Prussia, Silesia, and Pomerania, lost in World War II. It is noteworthy that as late as 1972, the Christian Democrats of the CDU declared that if they won (and lost) the 1972 elections, they would tear up these treaties. Finally, Brandt visits the Warsaw Ghetto, where he is photographed kneeling and apologizes for Nazi crimes.
