In 1963, Egon Bahr was the press spokesman for Willy Brandt, a world-renowned figure as mayor of West Berlin, the enclave that was both symbol and front line of the cold war between east and west. That year Bahr produced a paper with the unexciting title of Change Through Rapprochement. It was a statement of principle for what became known as Ostpolitik – eastern policy – and Bahr, who has died aged 93, went on to be a leading figure in its realisation.
Ostpolitik was usually described as a programme of detente whereby West Germany sought reconciliation with the communist bloc in eastern Europe – the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies including East Germany. And so it was. But Bahr’s long-term objective was German reunification, to be achieved by a “policy of small steps”. The countries that had borne the brunt of Nazi German brutality had to be won over if that unlikely goal was ever to be reached.
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