Word: brandts
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Ulbricht's purpose in calling the press conference: to reply to West German Chancellor Willy Brandt's proposal that the two Germanys enter into negotiations for a treaty renouncing the use of force. Between swigs of an orange-colored health drink called "buckthorn juice," Ulbricht, the East bloc's last surviving Stalinist, read a 52-minute speech. Then for the next 90 minutes he answered written questions. After he had finished, there was confusion in West Germany over exactly what he meant. The Stuttgarter Zeitung headlined, ULBRICHT CALLS FOR NEGOTIATIONS WITH BONN; Munich's Merkur bannered...
...Brandt looks to the German-to-German talks as a useful forum for discussing many issues-athletic competition, for example, and economic cooperation-that might help bring the two Germanys a bit closer. He promised to write a letter to East German Premier Willi Stoph in which he would make a formal proposal. Declared Brandt: "There must be, there can be and there will be negotiations between Bonn and East Berlin." At the same time, he blamed the East Germans for continuing tension between the two parts of Germany. Ulbricht and his cohorts, said Brandt, are "dogmatists and left-wing...
...deft ploy to enlist Soviet support for negotiations, Brandt said that West German participation in the Soviet-sponsored European security conference would depend on progress toward the solution of Germany's internal problems. Brandt is well aware that the security conference, which Moscow wants to convene either late this year or early in 1971 to ratify Europe's existing borders, is a major goal of Soviet diplomacy. The Kremlin is so eager to hold the conference that Soviet officials said publicly last week that they would welcome American attendance. Previously, they had been lukewarm toward the idea...
...Brandt went out of his way to point out that his government remains committed to the West. His emphasis on better relations with Eastern Europe has raised fears, notably in France, that West Germany is headed toward a Rapallo-style deal with the Communists that could upset the balance of power in Europe. Stressing Bonn's reliance on the Atlantic Alliance, Brandt declared: "The Federal Republic is no wanderer between two worlds." He buttressed the point by announcing that he would visit French President Georges Pompidou later this month, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson in March and President Nixon...
...first, Brandt's approach seemed to have little effect on the Christian Democratic opposition, which accused him of breaking with West Germany's historic stand on unification. Under a succession of C.D.U. Chancellors, Bonn asserted its claim to be the sole legitimate representative of the German people, East or West, and held that unification could come about only through free elections in East Germany. In the post-address debate, former Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger cried that "We want not only the achievement of national unity but also the unity of state as well." One delegate even accused the Chancellor...