War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Egon Bahr, 1987
Description:
In the 1970s, Egon Bahr, a former journalist, was Secretary of the German Prime Minister's Office (under Willy Brandt) and a federal government minister. From 1972-1990 he was an MP for the Social Democratic Party (SPD). In 1980, he became a member of the Independent Commission for Disarmament and Security. In the interview he discusses the development of West German policy and West German reactions to unfolding events during the Cold War, including the crises of 1948, 1953 and 1960. One of the major political issues of the period following Germany's split after World War II was the possibility of reunification. He describes the development of events, after reunification was thought impossible, including the decision by the Federal Republic to join NATO and enter into agreements allowing U.S. troops and nuclear weapons onto German soil. These actions, Bahr notes, generated extraordinary debates within the country, at least until the events of 1956 in Hungary. Bahr also discusses the roles of several important German politicians, including Franz Josef Straus and Konrad Adenauer.
