Willy Brandt and Helmut Kohl

Jonathan Wright

pp. 174-194

in: Steven Casey, Jonathan Wright (eds), Mental maps in the era of détente and the end of the Cold War 1968–91, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015

Abstract

The two German leaders most obviously associated with détente and the end of the Cold War were Brandt (Foreign Minister 1966–69 and Chancellor 1969–74) and Kohl (Chancellor 1982–98), though Hans-Dietrich Genscher (Foreign Minister 1974–92) also played an important part. They were very different in their backgrounds and political loyalties. But each believed that Germany remained a single nation, though divided into two states, and each made a vital contribution to unification.