Nobel peace prize

On October 20, 1971 the Bundestag (Lower House of the Federal Parliament) is debating the 1972 budget. Suddenly the Bundestag President interrupts the session. Kai-Uwe von Hassel informs the House that a telegram has been received from the Nobel Committee, with the notification that Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1971.

The delegates of the Bundestag - including the opposition - give Willy Brandt a standing ovation. The Nobel Committee elaborated: "Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt as chief of the West German government and in the name of the German nation has extended his hand in a policy of reconciliation among old enemy countries. His great accomplishment is that in the spirit of good will he has brought about the preconditions for peace in Europe."

Brandt is the fourth German to have received this significant award: previous Nobel peace prize laureates are Gustav Stresemann (1926), Ludwig Quidde (1927), and Carl von Ossietzky (1935).

Willy Brandt awarded with the Nobel Price ©Bundesbildstelle

Willy Brandt is awarded the Peace Prize on December 10, 1971 in Oslo. In his acceptance address, Brandt states that "the honor of the prize award can be interpreted as encouragement of my political efforts but should not be seen as a final verdict. I wish to point out how much it means to me that my work in the name of the German nation is being recognized and that after the inextinguishable terror of the past I can see the name of my country and the will for peace being brought into concurrence."