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In exile: Essays, reflections and letters, 1933-1947;
English, German (translation)
264 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1966
7 people want to read
About the author
Willy Brandt
88 books9 followersWilly Brandt (born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm) was a German politician, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) 1964–1987.
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July 19, 2021
Willy Brandt is famous for his roles as the Governing Mayor of West Berlin during the time of increasing East-West tension that led to the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and the Chancellor of West Germany who broke off the Hallstein Doctrine and established formal relations with East Germany. It’s well known that he hailed from the Hanseatic City of Lübeck and lived in exile between 1933 and 1947, escaping Nazi Germany. He joined the social democrats in Norway and became a Norwegian citizen. However, his loyalty remained unchanged to what he termed as “The Other Germany”, which should be differentiated from the Third Reich since there were many German émigrés in foreign countries who worked hard to challenge the narrative that antagonised the Germans due to hostile actions carried out by Hitler’s regime.
In Exile is an interesting book. It doesn’t sound like an apologist who begged for forgiveness for what the Third Reich has done to Europe. Willy Brandt remained consistent in his views and policies, both during the Second World War and afterwards when he took office as the Governing Mayor of West Berlin, Foreign Minister, and as Chancellor of West Germany. He keeps repeating throughout this book that there is the need to address the circumstances that gave birth to Nazi Germany instead of putting heavy reparation payments. Internationalism is the key, by working together with post-war Germany instead of blaming it. International cooperation, instead of building narrow national agenda through isolationist activities.
Much of the ideas that Willy Brandt put in this book are things that already happened. We can see them in the forms of the Marshall Plan that gave aid to European countries devastated by the war, the formation of the United Nations as the supranational entity to govern countries without them losing their sovereignties, and even in his policy of détente—Ostpolitik with the Eastern Bloc which culminated in the ease of tension between the two Germanys. Modern readers might feel that the ideas in this book are already outdated since many of the things that Willy Brandt described are things that we could take for granted, such as the existence of the United Nations and the European Union. However, considering that the essays and letters were written here are part of Brandt’s year in exile during the existence of Nazi Germany, his ideas are quite advanced for his age.
Besides that, this book will also give a glimpse into German émigrés’ lives in Europe. Many German émigrés fled Nazi Germany, some for political reasons (leftist activists and other undesirable elements), and others to save their lives (the Jews). The émigrés were mainly divided into Soviet émigrés who later returned as the Ulbricht Group and became the high-level government officials in East Germany, and the American émigrés who contributed a lot to the scientific advance of the United States in the events after the war ended and the artistic inputs in the Hollywood scene. Willy Brandt chose an unlikely place for his exile years, first Norway and then Sweden. His decisions were based on the need to build a network of socialists in Europe from Allied countries, neutral countries and Germany itself to contribute to the reconstruction of Europe after the war with the proximity to Germany as the key to its success.
This is a really nice addition to the literature about the Second World War, chronicling the underground movement that was overshadowed in the theatrical field of the war by the more famous Eastern Front and partisan movements. To understand the history of Europe in the twentieth century, this book will be an interesting additional material with many of Willy Brandt’s views that remained uncontested even until his chancellorship. I will have to admit that Willy Brandt was not a prominent writer and the essays and letters in this book are so sporadic in their ideas, with common repetition of ideas throughout this book. However, that fact does not compromise the contents.
In Exile is an interesting book. It doesn’t sound like an apologist who begged for forgiveness for what the Third Reich has done to Europe. Willy Brandt remained consistent in his views and policies, both during the Second World War and afterwards when he took office as the Governing Mayor of West Berlin, Foreign Minister, and as Chancellor of West Germany. He keeps repeating throughout this book that there is the need to address the circumstances that gave birth to Nazi Germany instead of putting heavy reparation payments. Internationalism is the key, by working together with post-war Germany instead of blaming it. International cooperation, instead of building narrow national agenda through isolationist activities.
Much of the ideas that Willy Brandt put in this book are things that already happened. We can see them in the forms of the Marshall Plan that gave aid to European countries devastated by the war, the formation of the United Nations as the supranational entity to govern countries without them losing their sovereignties, and even in his policy of détente—Ostpolitik with the Eastern Bloc which culminated in the ease of tension between the two Germanys. Modern readers might feel that the ideas in this book are already outdated since many of the things that Willy Brandt described are things that we could take for granted, such as the existence of the United Nations and the European Union. However, considering that the essays and letters were written here are part of Brandt’s year in exile during the existence of Nazi Germany, his ideas are quite advanced for his age.
Besides that, this book will also give a glimpse into German émigrés’ lives in Europe. Many German émigrés fled Nazi Germany, some for political reasons (leftist activists and other undesirable elements), and others to save their lives (the Jews). The émigrés were mainly divided into Soviet émigrés who later returned as the Ulbricht Group and became the high-level government officials in East Germany, and the American émigrés who contributed a lot to the scientific advance of the United States in the events after the war ended and the artistic inputs in the Hollywood scene. Willy Brandt chose an unlikely place for his exile years, first Norway and then Sweden. His decisions were based on the need to build a network of socialists in Europe from Allied countries, neutral countries and Germany itself to contribute to the reconstruction of Europe after the war with the proximity to Germany as the key to its success.
This is a really nice addition to the literature about the Second World War, chronicling the underground movement that was overshadowed in the theatrical field of the war by the more famous Eastern Front and partisan movements. To understand the history of Europe in the twentieth century, this book will be an interesting additional material with many of Willy Brandt’s views that remained uncontested even until his chancellorship. I will have to admit that Willy Brandt was not a prominent writer and the essays and letters in this book are so sporadic in their ideas, with common repetition of ideas throughout this book. However, that fact does not compromise the contents.
Displaying 1 of 1 review