Willy Brandt
1913–1992 · German (Lübeck / Berlin / Bonn) · Cold War, Post-WWII Germany
Known for: West German chancellor who fell to his knees at the Warsaw Ghetto memorial—the most powerful gesture of atonement in history
Brandt's defining moment was his spontaneous Kniefall (kneeling) at the Warsaw Ghetto memorial in 1970—a former anti-Nazi resistance fighter representing Germany, falling to his knees in silence before the victims of the Holocaust. The gesture shocked the world and opened Ostpolitik (reconciliation with Eastern Europe). He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971.
He resigned in 1974 after his personal aide was revealed to be an East German spy.
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