December 7, 1970: The Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany makes a deeply symbolic apology to Poland, a nation that Germany so deeply hurt in World War II.
Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm was born in 1913 in the German Empire. His family survived World War I, and he joined a socialist party as a teenager. To cover his tracks as the Nazi Party took control of Germany, he adopted the pseudonym "Willy Brandt." He escaped the Nazis in 1940, reaching neutral Sweden, and remained there for the duration of World War II, returning in 1946, and adopting "Willy Brandt" as his legal name in 1948.
In 1949, the Allied occupation forces began to draw back. The American, British and French sectors were united as the Federal Republic of Germany, a.k.a. West Germany. The Soviet sector became the German Democratic Republic, known in the West as East Germany. That same year, Brandt was elected to the FRG's national legislature, the Bundestag.
In 1957, he was elected Mayor of West Berlin, and was at the side of President John F. Kennedy at City Hall on June 26, 1963, when Kennedy gave the speech where he declared, "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. Therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'"
In 1965, Brandt ran for Chancellor, but lost. But the victorious government fell apart the following year, and Brandt resigned as Mayor to accept the post of Foreign Minister. In 1969, he ran for Chancellor again, and won.
Brandt wanted to normalize relations between his side of Germany and Eastern Europe, a policy he called Ostpolitik. On August 12, 1970, 25 years after the end of World War II, he signed the Treaty of Moscow with the Soviet Union. And on December 7, he visited Warsaw, the capital of Poland. He signed the Treaty of Warsaw, and laid a wreath at a monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Then he got down on his knees, and knelt there for about 30 seconds.
It became known as Der Kniefall von Warschau (The Kneefall in Warsaw). Brandt later said that he believed, at that moment, "Just laying the wreath is not enough." He added, "At the abyss of German history, and under the weight of millions of murdered people, I did what people do when language fails."
Der Spiegel (The Mirror), Germany's leading news magazine, took a poll: 48 percent thought the gesture was excessive, 41 percent said it was appropriate, and 11 percent had no opinion. But the international reaction was highly supportive. The Nobel Peace Prize for 1970 had already been awarded, to American food scientist Norman Borlaug. But Brandt was awarded it in 1971. And in 1972, Brandt's Social Democratic Party won its biggest election victory ever, to this day.
Brandt had to resign in 1974, when it was revealed that one of his aides had been compromised by East Germany. He lived until 1992, long enough to see the Berlin Wall fall and Germany reunited.
On December 6, 2000, just short of the 30th Anniversary of the event, a monument to Brandt was unveiled near the monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
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December 7, 1970 was a Monday. This was the 1st NFL season of ABC Monday Night Football, and, on that night, the Cleveland Browns beat the Houston Oilers, 21-10 at the Astrodome.
There was 1 NBA game played. The Cincinnati Royals beat the San Francisco Warriors, 124-113. This game was played on neutral ground, at the Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska. The Royals' organization must have had their interest piqued, because, 2 seasons later, they moved, and became the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, playing most of their home games at the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium, but a few at the Civic Auditorium. This arrangement held for 3 seasons, and then they played only in Kansas City from 1975 to 1985, before moving to Sacramento.
There were no games played in the American Basketball Association. There were 5 played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the expansion Vancouver Canucks, 4-1 at Madison Square Garden.
* The expansion Buffalo Sabres beat the Minnesota North Stars, 1-0 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-2 at the Chicago Stadium.
* And the Montreal Canadiens, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Los Angeles Kings and the California Golden Seals were not scheduled.