84 | Berlin » Berlin NEMAČKA / GERMANY NEW A I R PORT OP ENED Willy Brandt awaits you in Berlin The new airport in the German capital region is named after a man who is regarded as one of the most outstanding statesmen of the 20th century, a social democrat who played a significant role in shaping politics in Germany, Europe and around the world The new airport located 18 kilometres southeast of the centre of Berlin will replace Schönefeld and Tegel airports as the unique commercial airport serving theGerman capital and the state of Brandenburg. It is named after one of the greatest statesmen of the last century, the man who was dubbed the Warrior for Peace, the mayor of Berlin and chancellor of Germany who remains forever inscribed in history as the first German to pay homage to the victims of the Holocaust in Poland. It was precisely half a century ago, on 7th December 1970, during an official visit to Warsaw, that then German Chancellor Willy Brandt visited the Warsaw Ghetto, laid a wreath at the monument to the victims of Nazism, and fell to his knees. It was an unplanned and surprising gesture that didn’t require the addition of a major speech. Brandt would later say that he did what people usually do when words aren’t enough. His memorial wall at the new airport shows a portrait next to his famous words: “If I were asked to say what, apart from peace, was most important to me, then my answer would be: freedom.” Visitors at the airport can also learn more about Willy Brandt’s life thanks to an online biography accessible via QR codes. The memorial wall is located in the public area of Terminal 1 on the E0 arrivals level, next to themain staircase leading to the check-in hall. “Willy Brandt was one of Germany’s great statesmen. As a Berliner and a German, as a European and a citizen of the world, he worked tirelessly in defence of freedom for all citizens. I am delighted that, by commemorating Willy Brandt at the new airport of the German capital region, we are emphasising the implicit importance of freedom of travel and cross-border encounters in relation to the freedom of us all,” said Michael Müller, governing Mayor of Berlin, on the occasion of the opening. This is, thus, a good opportunity to remember Herbert Frahm (1913-1992), who later adopted the name Willy Brandt. Born in the North Sea port of Lübeck on 18th December 1913, he was the illegitimate son of working-class parents. After a lonely and deprived childhood, he found fellowship in the youth organisations of the Social Democratic party (SPD). WhenHitler came to power in 1933, he fled from certain persecution and spent the rest of the 1930s in Norway, becoming a Norwegian citizen. He returned to Germany at the end of World War II and in 1957 became lordmayor ofWest Berlin, gaining international renown for his resistance to Soviet and East German pressures on the isolated city, especially during the Berlin Wall crisis of 1961. As candidate for the chancellorship (1961, 1965 and 1969) and as leader of the SPD (after 1964), Brandt led his party to solid political gains on a social reform platform. Brandt became chancellor in 1969. While he didn’t abandon West Germany’s commitment to Western European economic integration, Brandt took a softer approach to Eastern European governments. On the domestic front he initiated broad political, educational and economic reforms. As chancellor, Brandt ably demonstrated, to both his supporters and detractors, that a Socialist leader could be effective, statesmanlike and popular. This policy of softer lines of governmental and economic dealings with Eastern European countries came to be known as ‘ostpolitik’. Brandt signed treaties that served to relax tensions. This enabled both German entities to enter the United Nations and allowed Germans to cross borders. It also led to the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Brandt in 1971. It also led to his resignation in 1974, when Brandt’s close aide, Günter Guillaume, was revealed to be an East German spy. Historians honour Brandtmore thanhis own countrymen did; few of his contemporaries in the early 1970s realised how much his efforts and policies had preparedGermany for a united future. Brandt spoke of the slow and painful process of unifying Germany, and he remained an advocate of unity until his 1992 death. Er Srbija od novembra za letove između Beograda i Berlina koristi novi aerodrom Berlin Brandenburg (BER), umesto aerodroma Berlin Tegel (TXL), na koji je ranije sletala Since November, Air Serbia has been using the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) for flights between Belgrade and Berlin, instead of Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) where it previously landed
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