THE WARSAW GENUFLECTION: WILLY BRANDT’S HISTORIC GESTURE

After the end of the Second World War, diplomatic relations between West Germany and Poland had ceased. In 1970, German Chancellor Willy Brandt travelled to Warsaw and decided to make a historic gesture: in front of the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, he dropped to his knees in order to beg forgiveness for the crimes of the Nazi era. We remember this moving moment with which the then Chancellor marked the legacy of his ‘Ostpolitik’ (‘policy towards Eastern Europe’) 46 years ago.