Egon Bahr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Bahr in 1969 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Federal Manager of the Social Democratic Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 15 December 1976 – 23 February 1981 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Willy Brandt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Holger Börner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Peter Glotz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister for Economic Cooperation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 8 July 1974 – 14 December 1976 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor | Helmut Schmidt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Erhard Eppler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Marie Schlei | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister for Special Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 15 December 1972 – 16 May 1974 Serving with Werner Maihofer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor | Willy Brandt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Horst Ehmke | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Wolfgang Schäuble(1984) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| State Secretary in theChancellery Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1969–1972 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor | Willy Brandt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Carl Krautwig | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Dietrich Spangenberg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr (1922-03-18)18 March 1922 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 19 August 2015(2015-08-19) (aged 93) Berlin, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Social Democratic Party(1956–2015) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation |
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| Military service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allegiance |  Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Branch/service | Luftwaffe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 1942–1944 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Fahnenjunker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Unit | Luftkriegsschule VI | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Battles/wars | World War II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr (German pronunciation:[ˈeːɡɔnkaʁlˈhaɪntsˈbaːɐ̯]; 18 March 1922 – 19 August 2015) was a GermanSPD politician.[1]
The former journalist was the creator of theOstpolitik promoted byWest German ChancellorWilly Brandt, for whom he served as Secretary of State in theGerman Chancellery from 1969 until 1972. Between 1972 and 1990 he was an MP in theBundestag of the Federal Republic ofGermany and from 1972 until 1976 was also a Minister of the Federal Government.
Bahr was a key figure in multiple negotiation sessions between not onlyEast and West Germany, but also West Germany and the Soviet Union. In addition to his instrumental role inOstpolitik, Bahr was also an influential voice in negotiating theTreaty of Moscow, theTreaty of Warsaw, theTransit Treaty of 1971, and theBasic Treaty of 1972.
Bahr was born inTreffurt, in thePrussianProvince 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 theRheinmetall-Borsig armament corporation in Berlin. DuringWorld War II, Bahr served as a soldier in theWehrmacht from 1942 until 1944, ultimately in the capacity of “Fahnenjunker” (cadet) in the Luftkriegsschule VI inKitzingen. He was, however, demoted after being accused of being non-Aryan (on account of his Jewish grandmother) and, thus, having "sneaked into theWehrmacht”.[3] Thereafter, he received a posting as an armaments worker at Rheinmetall-Borsig.
After the war, Bahr worked as ajournalist at theBerliner Zeitung, one ofWest Berlin's prominent daily newspapers. He later worked at two other West Berliner periodicals, theAllgemeine Zeitung (West Berlin) andDer Tagesspiegel (West Berlin).[4] From 1950 to 1960, he served as chief commentator of theBonn bureau ofRIAS, (“ Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor”, or "Broadcasting in the American Sector"). In 1959, he received his posting as press attaché to the West German Embassy inGhana. From 1984 to 1994, Bahr served as the Director of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at theUniversity 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]
Bahr was a member of theSPD from 1956 until his death in 2015. From 1960 to 1966 Bahr was the head of the Press and Information Office for theLand ofBerlin (at that time,West Berlin). In that capacity, Bahr served as the spokesman for theSenate of Berlin, which was led at the time byMayorWilly Brandt. From 1966 to 1969 Bahr served as an ambassador and as Ministerial Director of the Planning Staff of theGerman 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 ofOstpolitik ("Eastern Policy", also known as “‘'Entspannungspolitik'’”, the German equivalent of "détente").[citation needed]
Following theWest German federal election of 1969, Bahr becameSecretary of State of theGerman Chancellery as well asBevollmächtigter ("commissioner" or "appointed representative") of theFederal Cabinet of Germany in Berlin. It was in this capacity that Bahr served as an emissary to and negotiator withMoscow with respect to the1970 Treaty of Moscow and the1970 Treaty of Warsaw, as well as theTransit Treaty of 1971 and theBasic Treaty of 1972 that were concluded with theGerman 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".[citation needed] 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 theEvangelische Akademie Tutzing) and “Politik der kleinen Schritte” ("policy of small steps").[6]
With respect toOstpolitik, 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 withAndrei Gromyko, and materials from these talks found their way, via an unknown leak, to the tabloid newspaperBild. On 1 July 1970, they appeared in two issues. This unauthorized publication became known as the "Bahr Paper".[7]
Following Willy Brandt'sresignation of the Chancellery, Bahr also relinquished his position in the cabinet. He was, however, reappointed by Brandt's successor,Helmut Schmidt (SPD), to theMinistry for Economic Cooperation and Development. On 14 December 1976, following thefederal 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 GermanBundestag. He was directly elected in 1976 and 1980 as the representative of theSchleswig-Flensburg electoral district; in the remaining elections, he was elected from the SPD'sparty 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 politicianOlof Palme. The Commission published its findings in a 1982 report titled "Common Security". Among the report's recommendations was the concept of anuclear-free corridor in Central Europe.
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 ofKlaus Uwe Benneter, who at that time had been serving as the Federal Chairman ofJusos (JungsozialistInnen in der SPD, or “Young Socialists in the SPD". Benneter had piqued much political ire by expressing the view that theGerman Communist Party could be a potential coalition partner for theSPD, a statement that put the status of the youth organization into jeopardy.[citation needed]
On 27 November 1988 he described the demands forGerman reunification as "Sunday talk, (...) lies, hypocrisy that poisoned us and others, political pollution."[8] On 1 November 1989, in an interview in theVorwärts, Bahr said: "For heaven’s sake, let’s stop dreaming and blathering about German unity"; theBerlin 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 theCold 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 theFrankfurter 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 GermanWehrmacht.[11]
"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 thatAdenauer did not really mean it [that Germany should be reunited], and thatSchumacher 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]
In 1973, Bahr was awarded theBundesverdienstkreuz ("Federal Cross of Merit"). He was named an honorary citizen of Berlin in 2002. In 2007, Bahr was honored with theWilly Brandt Prize by the German-Norwegian Willy-Brandt-Foundation and in 2008 with both theGöttingen Peace Prize [de] and theMarion Dönhoff Preis [de]. Bahr received an honorary doctorate in 2008 from the Internationales HochschulinstitutZittau in recognition of his service to the process of unifying Europe.[12] In January 2010, he received theOrder of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia. In 2013, he received theKaiser Otto Prize.[13]
