Bahr was a member of the
SPD from 1956 until his death in 2015. From 1960 to 1966 Bahr was the head of the Press and Information Office for the
Land of
Berlin (at that time,
West Berlin). In that capacity, Bahr served as the spokesman for the
Senate of Berlin, which was led at the time by
Mayor Willy Brandt. From 1966 to 1969 Bahr served as an ambassador and as Ministerial Director of the Planning Staff of the
German Foreign Office (
Auswärtiges Amt). Bahr is considered to have been one of the most important and most influential advisors to Willy Brandt, especially with respect to the latter's policy of
Ostpolitik ("Eastern Policy", also known as “‘'Entspannungspolitik'’”, the German equivalent of "
détente"). Following the
West German federal election of 1969, Bahr became
Secretary of State of the
German Chancellery as well as
Bevollmächtigter ("commissioner" or "appointed representative") of the
Federal Cabinet of Germany in Berlin. It was in this capacity that Bahr served as an emissary to and negotiator with
Moscow with respect to the
1970 Treaty of Moscow and the
1970 Treaty of Warsaw, as well as the
Transit Treaty of 1971 and the
Basic Treaty of 1972 that were concluded with the
German Democratic Republic. On the basis of his success in guiding these treaties to successful conclusion, Bahr is often referred to as "Architect of the Eastern Treaties". He is also credited with two of the Brandt government's most influential mottos describing West Germany's relationship with the German Democratic Republic, “
Wandel durch Annäherung” ("change through rapprochement", a speech at the
Evangelische Akademie Tutzing) and “
Politik der kleinen Schritte” ("policy of small steps"). With respect to
Ostpolitik, Bahr's field of work was mostly behind the curtains to prepare treaties. This secrecy was broken once, however. Bahr was in Moscow holding talks with
Andrei Gromyko, and materials from these talks found their way, via an unknown leak, to the tabloid newspaper
Bild. On 1 July 1970, they appeared in two issues. This unauthorized publication became known as the "Bahr Paper". Following Willy Brandt's
resignation of the Chancellery, Bahr also relinquished his position in the cabinet. He was, however, reappointed by Brandt's successor,
Helmut Schmidt (SPD), to the
Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. On 14 December 1976, following the
federal elections that had taken place two months earlier, Bahr left his position in the Federal Government permanently. Bahr served from 1972 until 1990 as a member of the German
Bundestag. He was directly elected in 1976 and 1980 as the representative of the
Schleswig-Flensburg electoral district; in the remaining elections, he was elected from the SPD's
party list. Bahr also served as chairman of the Sub-Committee for Disarmament and Arms Control. In 1980, Bahr became a member of the Independent Commission for Disarmament and Security under the chairmanship of Swedish politician
Olof Palme. The Commission published its findings in a 1982 report titled "Common Security". Among the report's recommendations was the concept of a
nuclear-free corridor in Central Europe. From 1976 until 1981, he served as the executive director (
Bundesgeschäftsführer) of the SPD. During his tenure in that position, Bahr drew attention amid the uproar surrounding the expulsion of
Klaus Uwe Benneter, who at that time had been serving as the Federal Chairman of
Jusos (
JungsozialistInnen in der SPD, or “
Young Socialists in the SPD". Benneter had piqued much political ire by expressing the view that the
German Communist Party could be a potential coalition partner for the
SPD, a statement that put the status of the youth organization into jeopardy. On 27 November 1988 he described the demands for
German reunification as "Sunday talk, (...) lies, hypocrisy that poisoned us and others, political pollution." On 1 November 1989, in an interview in the
Vorwärts, Bahr said: "For heaven’s sake, let’s stop dreaming and blathering about German unity"; the
Berlin Wall fell only eight days later on 9 November 1989. Five days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he called it a "delusion to talk about reunification." Bahr went on to publish various writings about the future of German foreign policy following the end of the
Cold War (see "Publications" below). He advocated among other things for Europe and Germany to exercise greater influence in the world as a "Civilian power" (“
Zivilmacht"). In 1991, Bahr promoted discussion of the creation of a potential German peace corps. In an interview with the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in 2005, Bahr confessed that, as a teenager, he had felt a "certain pride" that Poland, France, Denmark, and Norway had been conquered so quickly by the German
Wehrmacht. == Quotes ==