Word: willi
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...deadly inhuman person," Willy Brandt said of Willi Stoph some years ago. Whether Brandt would like to revise that assessment after his meeting with East Germany's Premier last week at Erfurt remains to be seen. To be sure, the shy, introverted Stoph (rhymes with loaf) is not exactly the cuddly type. In a country where telling jokes about political leaders has long been a favorite pastime, no German-East or West-can readily recall any gags about the steely, erect and correct Stoph. But he does seem to inspire respect...
While Werner Barm cautions that Stoph "is not a man to give up Communism," he concedes that "he is one of the few men in the party leadership who is seeking a reconciliation of Communism and the people." Clearly, Willy Brandt is hoping that the other Willi will some day start seeking the same sort of reconciliation between the people of East and West Germany as well...
Nonetheless, as Brandt stepped from his special train in Erfurt one morning last week, 3,000 East Germans had gathered. When Brandt, accompanied by East German Premier Willi Stoph (see box) walked across a square to the Hotel Erfurter Hof, the cheers began: "Willy! Willy! Willy!" When the two men stepped inside, the crowd broke through the police lines and surged across the square. Then, as if to make sure that nobody mistook which Willy they meant, they shouted: "Willy Brandt ans Fenster [Willy Brandt to the window]!" Moved to tears, Brandt briefly appeared at a third-story window...
...express will halt briefly at the small town of Gerstungen on the border between West and East Germany. There an East German engine and crew will take over to pull the train the remaining 40 miles to the ancient city of Erfurt. The next morning, when West German Chancellor Willy Brandt steps from his sleeping car at the Erfurt station, he will be greeted by Willi Stoph, the Premier of the German Democratic Republic...
...Pomp. It is unlikely that a single meeting will produce a sensational breakthrough in the tense and frigid relations between the two German states. But it is highly significant that the meeting is being held at all. Only last week, the East Germans seemed ready to torpedo the Willy-Willi meeting by insisting on impossible demands, most notably that Brandt travel to East Berlin without setting foot in West Berlin, the city he served as mayor for almost a decade. Refusing to take nein for an answer, Brandt suggested a meeting in any other city. To Bonn's amazement...