The Berlin Edition Print E-mail
Willy Brandt - Berliner Ausgabe

September 7, 2010
Book launch at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Co-sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson Center, Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and the German Historical Institute.

The recently completed document collection Willy Brandt - Berliner Ausgabe consists of ten edited volumes which cover Brandt's lifespan from his youth during the final years of the Weimar Republic up to German unification. The Woodrow Wilson Center hosted a presentation of that edition, which attracted a large audience. After words of welcome from Christian Ostermann (Wilson Center) and Marcus Gräser (German Historical Institute), Bernd Rother (Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt Foundation) gave an overview of the edition and commented on a selection of Brandt's letters and speeches that was available to the audience in an English translation. Ambassador Jonathan Dean, former U.S. representative to the Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction Negotiations spoke on his personal experiences with Brandt, and Karsten Voigt, long-time member of the German parliament and former foreign policy spokesman of the Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) talked about Brandt's perception of America and how his changing ideas of America influenced his conception of foreign policy and his idea of German unification. A lively discussion followed.

A video of this event can be seen on the Wilson Center's website.