Educalingo cookies are used to personalize ads and get web traffic statistics. We also share information about the use of the site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Meaning of "Ostpolitik" in the German dictionary. Politics towards the socialist states of Eastern Europe and Asia's policy towards the countries east of their own territory. Politics towards the socialist states of Eastern Europe and AsiaUsage earlier. Synonyms and antonyms of Ostpolitik in the German dictionary of synonyms.
Examples of use in the German literature, quotes and news about Ostpolitik. This turned out to be more successful and I could find a lot of summaries of the books listed in the bibliography of this essay. The following section will introduce the reader to the political and social circumstances in West-Germany during the second half of the s. The development described is of domestic nature. The student uprisings of Paris in set an example for their German fellows.
Non-parliamentary opposition in West-Germany of the late Their intention was to force a reform of the educational system, which was in their opinion undemocratic, old and reactionary. To achieve this goal, they used all kinds of open protest, for example demonstrations, sit-ins, etc.
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- Meaning of "Ostpolitik" in the German dictionary.
- Willy Brandt!
More generally they intended to openly express their critique on the entire political system of the BRD. The young generation of students blamed their parents for focusing on economic issues after the loss of the war, instead of taking responsibility for the appearance and existence of the Nazi-Regime. According to their critique this had resulted in a creation of a reactionary state, being largely influenced by the will of the wealthy entrepreneurs.
He was forced to move to Germany and continued his political work in Frankfurt. Politik - Internationale Politik - Thema: Politik - Sonstige Themen. Geschichte Europa - and. Politik - Internationale Politik - Region: GRIN Publishing, located in Munich, Germany, has specialized since its foundation in in the publication of academic ebooks and books. The publishing website GRIN. Free Publication of your term paper, essay, interpretation, bachelor's thesis, master's thesis, dissertation or textbook - upload now! Register or log in. Brandt's predecessor as chancellor, Kurt Georg Kiesinger , had been a member of the Nazi party, and was a more old-fashioned conservative-liberal intellectual.
Brandt, having fought the Nazis and having faced down communist Eastern Germany during several crises while he was the mayor of Berlin, became a controversial, but credible, figure in several different factions. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Kiesinger's grand coalition cabinet, Brandt helped to gain further international approval for Western Germany, and he laid the foundation stones for his future Neue Ostpolitik.
There was a wide public-opinion gap between Kiesinger and Brandt in the West German polls.
Both men had come to their own terms with the new baby boomer lifestyles. Kiesinger considered them to be "a shameful crowd of long-haired drop-outs who needed a bath and someone to discipline them".
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On the other hand, Brandt needed a while to get into contact with, and to earn credibility among, the " Ausserparlamentarische Opposition " APO "the extra-parliamentary opposition". The students questioned West German society in general, seeking social, legal, and political reforms. Also, the unrest led to a renaissance of right-wing parties in some of the Bundeslands ' German states under the Bundesrepublik Parliaments.
Brandt, however, represented a figure of change, and he followed a course of social, legal, and political reforms. In , Brandt gained a small majority by forming a coalition with the FDP. In his first speech before the Bundestag as the chancellor, Brandt set forth his political course of reforms ending the speech with his famous words, "Wir wollen mehr Demokratie wagen" literally: This speech made Brandt, as well as the Social Democratic Party, popular among most of the students and other young West German baby-boomers who dreamed of a country that would be more open and more colorful than the frugal and still somewhat-authoritarian Bundesrepublik that had been built after World War II.
Although Brandt is perhaps best known for his achievements in foreign policy, his government oversaw the implementation of a broad range of social reforms, and was known as a "Kanzler der inneren Reformen" 'Chancellor of domestic reform'. A mania for large scale reforms spread like wildfire, affecting schools, universities, the administration, family legislation. According to Helmut Schmidt , Willy Brandt's domestic reform programme had accomplished more than any previous programme for a comparable period.
Substantial increases were made in social security benefits such as injury and sickness benefits, [13] pensions, [24] unemployment benefits, [13] [25] housing allowances, [26] basic subsistence aid allowances, [27] and family allowances and living allowances. Adjusted for changes in the annual price index, pensions went up in real terms by 3. In , seagoing pilots became retrospectively insurable, and gained full social security as members of the Non-Manual Workers Insurance Institute.
That same year, a special regulation came into force for District Master Chimney Sweeps, making them fully insurable under the Craftsman's Insurance Scheme. The Third Modification Law extended individual entitlements to social assistance by means of higher-income limits compatible with receipt of benefits and lowered age limits for certain special benefits. Rehabilitation measures were also extended, child supplements were expressed as percentages of standard amounts and were thus indexed to their changes, and grandparents of recipients were exempted from potential liability to reimburse expenditure of social assistance carrier.
Translation of «Ostverträge» into 25 languages
A bill to harmonize re-education benefit and another bill relating to severely handicapped persons became law in May and September respectively. To assist family planning and marriage and family guidance, the government allocated DM 2 in for the payment and for the basic and further training of staff. A special effort was also made in to organize the recreation of handicapped persons , with a holiday guide for the handicapped issued with the aid of the Federal Ministry of Family and Youth Affairs and Health in order to help them find suitable holiday accommodation for themselves and their families.
From to , the total amount of individual aids granted by Guarantee Fund for the integration of young immigrants increased from 17 million DM to 26 million DM. A law on explosives Sprengstoffgesetz was the subject of two application ordinances on 17 November and 24 August and a general regulatory provision 19 May , which covered respectively the application of the law to nationals of EC Member States, the duty of employers to notify in time the inspection authorities of detonation plans, the interpretation of the purpose and field of application of the law, authorizations for transport of explosives, and control and recognition of training courses on work with explosives.
In the field of health care, various measures were introduced to improve the quality and availability of health care provision. Free hospital care was introduced for 9 million recipients of social relief, [15] while a contributory medical service for 23 million panel patients was introduced. Pupils, students and children in kindergartens were incorporated into the accident insurance scheme, [26] which benefited 11 million children. This law also introduced a new type of sickness insurance benefit, namely facilities for the early diagnosis of disease.
Apart from the discretionary service of disease prevention which had existed since , insured persons now had a right in certain circumstances to medical examinations aimed at the early diagnosis of disease. According to one study, this marked a change in the concept of sickness insurance: The Hospital Financing Law secured the supply of hospitals and reduced the cost of hospital care, "defined the financing of hospital investment as a public responsibility, single states to issue plans for hospital development, and the federal government to bear the cost of hospital investment covered in the plans, rates for hospital care thus based on running costs alone, hospitals to ensure that public subsidies together with insurance fund payments for patients cover total costs".
In addition, funding for new rehabilitation facilities was increased. The reform also replaced 65 as the mandatory retirement age with a "retirement window" ranging between 63 and 65 for employees who had worked for at least thirty-five years. Employees who qualified as disabled and had worked for at least thirty-five years were extended a more generous retirement window, which ranged between the ages of 60 and Women who had worked for at least fifteen years ten of which had to be after the age of age 40 and the long-term unemployed were also granted the same retirement window as the disabled.
Willy Brandt - Wikipedia
In addition, there were no benefit reductions for employees who had decided to retire earlier than the age of Voluntary retirement at 63 with no deductions in the level of benefits was introduced, [56] together with the index-linking of war victim's pensions to wage increases. In education, the Brandt Administration sought to widen educational opportunities for all West Germans. The government presided over an increase in the number of teachers, [15] generous public stipends were introduced for students to cover their living costs, [21] and West German universities were converted from elite schools into mass institutions.
Grants were also made in certain cases for attendance at training centres located outside the Federal Republic.
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The number of university students went up from , to ,, 30, more places were created in the schools, and an additional 1, million marks was allocated for new school buildings. In the field of housing, various measures were carried out to benefit householders, such as in improving the rights of tenants and increasing rental assistance.
By , three times as much was paid out in rent subsidies as in , and nearly one and a half million households received rental assistance. In addition, the income limits for eligibility for social housing were raised and adapted in order of general income trends. A loose form of rent regulation was introduced under the name of "Vergleichmieten" 'comparable rents' , [79] together with the provision of "for family-friendly housing" freight or rent subsidies to owners of apartments or houses whose ceiling had been adapted to increased expenses or incomes Under this legislation, notice was to be ruled illegal "where appropriate substitute accommodation not available; landlords obliged to specify reasons for notice," [26] whilst the Eviction Protection Law established tenant protection against rent rises and notice.
The notice was only lawful if in the "justified interest of the landlord.
The "Ostpolitik" of the social-liberal coalition
Under this new law, the notice was only lawful where the landlord proved justified personal interest in the apartment. In addition, rent increases were only lawful if not above normal comparable rents in the same area. Directives on the housing of foreign workers came into force in April These directives imposed certain requirements for space, hygiene, safety, and amenities in the accommodation offered by employers.
In , the Federal Labour Office made available DM million in the form of loans to provide beds in 2 hostels. A year later, the Federal Government Bund , the Lander and the Federal Labour Office promoted the construction of dwellings for migrant workers. They set aside 10 million DM for this purpose, which allowed the financing of family dwellings that year. Development measures were begun in with federal financial aid granted to the Lander for improvement measures relating to towns and villages, and in the budget, DM 50 million was earmarked, i.
A council for urban development was formed in May with the purpose of promoting future work and measures in the field of urban renovation. In regards to civil rights, the Brandt Administration introduced a broad range of socially liberal reforms aimed at making West Germany a more open society.
Greater legal rights for women were introduced, as exemplified by the standardisation of pensions, divorce laws, regulations governing use of surnames, and the introduction of measures to bring more women into politics. A number of reforms were also carried out to the armed forces, [19] as characterised by a reduction in basic military training from 18 to 15 months, a reorganisation of education and training, and personnel and procurement procedures.
The expense allowance for troops on duty-related absence from place of employment was improved, together with travel subsidies and provisions for military service damaged soldiers and their families. A women's policy machinery at the national level was established in [] while amnesty was guaranteed in minor offences connected with demonstrations.
Legislation aimed at safeguarding consumers was also implemented under the Brandt Administration. The consumer's right of withdrawal in case of hire purchase was strengthened in March , [] and fixed prices for branded products were abolished by law in January that same year, which meant that manufacturers' recommended prices were not binding for retailers. An Act of December on the peaceful use of nuclear energy and protection against its dangers was amended by an Act of June that established a tax levied for the costs for permissions and surveillance measures.
In terms of working conditions, a number of reforms were introduced aimed at strengthening the rights of workers both at home and in the workplace. The Sickness Act of provided equal treatment of workers and employees in the event of incapacity for work, [62] while maternity leave was increased.
Previously, payment of employer's supplement and sick pay were only made from the day on which the doctor certified unfitness for work. Improvements were also made in income and work conditions for home workers, [] accident insurance was extended to non-working adults, [23] and the Border Zone Assistance Act increased levels of assistance to the declining zonal peripheral area. A ministerial order of January extended protection in cases of partial unemployment to home workers, while an ordinance of August fixed the conditions of health necessary for service in the merchant navy.
A general provision of October determined in detail the circumstances in which the competent authority must take action on the basis of the act on the technical means of work. In September , an ordinance was published concerning dangerous working materials; safeguarding persons using these materials against the dangers involved. In August , a law came into force directed at reducing atmospheric pollution from lead compounds in four-stroke engine fuels. As a safeguard against radiation, a decree on the system of authorisations for medicaments treated with ionizing radiation or containing radioactive substances, in its version of 8 August , was remodelled by a new Decree of 10 May which added some radionuclides to the list of medicaments which doctors in private practice were authorized to use.
Amongst its designated tasks included the promotion of industrial protection, accident prevention on the journey to and from work and accident prevention in the home and leisure activities, the encouragement of training and advanced training in the area of industrial protection, and to promote and coordinate accident research. A regulation was issued in which permitted for the first time the employment of women as drivers of trams, omnibuses and lorries, while further regulations laid down new provisions for lifts and work with compressed air.
The Works Constitution Act of required in cases of collective dismissal at an establishment normally employing more than twenty employees that management and the works council must negotiate a social plan that stipulates compensation for workers who lose their jobs. In cases where the two parties could not agree on a social plan, the law provided for binding arbitration.
A law of January on the organization of labour in enterprises significantly extended the works council's right of cooperation and co-management in the matter of vocational training. That same year, the Safety Institute of the Federal Republic of Germany was transformed into a public Federal Agency Bundesanstalt with significantly enlarged powers, in the context of which special emphasis would be placed on its new task of promoting and coordinating research in the area of accident prevention.
Employers who failed to do so were assessed DM per month for every job falling before the required quota. These compensatory payments were used to "subsidise the adaptation of workplaces to the requirements of those who were severely handicapped. A law passed in January , designed to protect members of the supervisory boards of companies who are undergoing training, was aimed at ensuring that the representatives of young workers and youthful members of works councils still undergoing training could perform their duties with greater independence and without fear of disadvantageous consequences for their future careers.
On request, workers' representatives on completion of their training courses had to have an employment relationship of unlimited duration. A federal environmental programme was established in , [] and in laws were passed to regulate garbage elimination and air pollution via emission. Under the Brandt Administration, West Germany attained a lower rate of inflation than in other industrialised countries at that time, [18] while a rise in the standard of living took place, helped by the floating and revaluation of the mark.
Brandt's Ostpolitik led to a meltdown of the narrow majority Brandt's coalition enjoyed in the Bundestag. On 24 April a constructive vote of no confidence was proposed and it was voted on three days later. On paper, the opposition now had votes, just one over the needed to oust Brandt. Even Brandt himself believed he was finished, and a number of unions went on strike in anticipation of Brandt's expected defeat on the floor of the Bundestag. To everyone's surprise, the motion failed: Barzel got only votes out of votes cast, two short of what he needed to become Chancellor.
There were also 10 votes against the motion and three invalid ballots. After German reunification , it emerged that the Stasi had bribed several CDU deputies to abstain from the confidence vote, since East Berlin saw a need for Brandt to stay in power. Though Brandt remained chancellor, he had lost his majority. Subsequent initiatives in parliament, most notably on the budget, failed.
Because of this stalemate, the Bundestag was dissolved and new elections were called. During the campaign, many popular West German artists, intellectuals, writers, actors and professors supported Brandt and the SPD. Brandt's Ostpolitik as well as his reformist domestic policies were popular with parts of the young generation and he led the SPD to its best-ever federal election result in late The Willy-Wahl , Brandt's landslide win was the beginning of the end; and Brandt's role in government started to decline. The spirit of reformist optimism was cut short by the oil crisis and the major public services strike , which gave Germany's trade unions, led by Heinz Kluncker , a big wage increase but reduced Brandt's financial leeway for further reforms.
Brandt was said to be more a dreamer than a manager and was personally haunted by depression. To counter any notions about being sympathetic to Communism or soft on left-wing extremists, Brandt implemented tough legislation that barred "radicals" from public service Radikalenerlass. Brandt was asked to continue working as usual, and he agreed to do so, even taking a private vacation with Guillaume. Guillaume was arrested on 24 April , and many [ who? Brandt resigned from his position as chancellor on 6 May , but he remained a member of the Bundestag and chairman of the Social Democrats through This espionage affair is widely considered to have been just the trigger for Brandt's resignation, not the fundamental cause.
As Brandt himself later said, "I was exhausted, for reasons which had nothing to do with the affair [the Guillaume espionage scandal] going on at the time. Wolf stated after the reunification that the resignation of Brandt had never been intended, and that the planting and handling of Guillaume had been one of the largest mistakes of the East German secret services.
For the rest of his life, Brandt remained suspicious that his fellow Social Democrat and longtime rival Herbert Wehner had been scheming for Brandt's downfall. After his term as the Chancellor, Brandt retained his seat in the Bundestag , and he remained the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party through Beginning in , Brandt stepped down to become the Honorary Chairman of the party.
Brandt was also a member of the European Parliament from to For sixteen years, Brandt was the president of the Socialist International —92 , during which period the number of Socialist International's mainly European member parties grew until there were more than a hundred socialist, social democratic, and labour political parties around the world. However, in early , a dispute arose about what Carlsson perceived as the SI president's authoritarian approach. Carlsson then rebuked Brandt saying: Next, against some vocal opposition, Brandt decided to move the next Socialist International Congress from Sydney, Australia to Portugal.
Following this SI Congress in April , Brandt retaliated against Carlsson by forcing him to step down from his position. During Willy Brandt's presidency the SI developed activities and dialogue on a number of International issues.