On the occasion of the first anniversary of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine on February 24, and in view of the daily growing numbers of death, pain and destruction, historian Prof. Dr. Peter Brandt, son of German Chancellor Willy Brandt, the creator of Ostpolitik, together with Reiner Hoffmann (former chairman of the German Trade Union Confederation ), Michael Müller (Federal Chairman of Naturefriends) and Reiner Braun (International Peace Bureau) took the initiative to formulate an appeal to Chancellor Scholz, to apply the successes and lessons learned from the European policy of détente, to join together with France in order to stop the war and “to win Brazil, China, India and Indonesia in particular for mediation in order to quickly achieve a ceasefire. This would be a necessary step to stop the killing and explore peace possibilities.”
The proposal received broad support und signatories from some 200 political, civil society and trade union leaders – including many who had themselves actively contributed to the development and implementation of the détente policies of Willy Brandt, Egon Bahr and Helmut Schmidt. – Wolfgang Biermann, Detente Now
The appeal was launched this weekend under the title “CREATE PEACE! – Ceasefire and Common Security Now!” by the Hannoversche Zeitung, the Berliner Zeitung and the Frankfurt Rundschau (FR). The FR comment about the special value of this appeal in its series “Peace Issues”:
For the first time in this series, an article now appears whose headline ends not with a question mark, but with an exclamation mark. The present text “Frieden schaffen!” is an appeal signed by an impressive list of personalities.
In terms of content, as well as in view of the approximately 200 names on the list of signatures, it is in the tradition of the Social Democratic policy of détente pursued by Egon Bahr and Willy Brandt – and not only because the latter’s son Peter Brandt was one of the initiators. Close associates of the two deceased Social Democrats have also signed, such as Willy Brandt’s former office manager Karl-Heinz Klär and Uwe Stehr, Egon Bahr’s former disarmament adviser.
Numerous representatives from politics, research, trade unions and the cultural sector have also signed the appeal, which reads as follows: