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See also: | Other events of 1970 History of Germany • Timeline • Years |
Events in the year 1970 in Germany .
West German chancellor since October 1969, and GDR vice president Willi Stoph meet in Erfurt (19 March) and in Kassel (21 May) - the start of a new Ostpolitik (new eastern policy)
Federal elections were held in West Germany on 28 September 1969 to elect the members of the 6th Bundestag. The CDU/CSU remained the largest faction and the Social Democratic Party remained the largest single party in the Bundestag, winning 237 of the 518 seats. After the election, the SPD formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party and SPD leader Willy Brandt became Chancellor.
Erich Ollenhauer was the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1952 until 1963. He was a key leader of the opposition to Konrad Adenauer in the Bundestag. In exile under the Nazis, he returned to Germany in February 1946, becoming vice chairman of the SPD. He was a close ally of the chairman Kurt Schumacher, and worked on party organization. Where Schumacher was a passionate intellectual, Ollenhauer was a thorough and efficient bureaucrat. He became party leader after Schumacher's death in 1952. Besides attending to organizational details, his main role was moderating the tension between the left-wing and right-wing factions. He remained party leader until his death, but yielded to the charismatic Berlin mayor Willy Brandt in 1961 as the party's candidate for chancellor.
Andreas Stoch is a German politician and member of the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party and leader of its Baden-Württemberg state branch since November 2018. He previously served as state Minister for Culture, Youth and Sport from 2013 to 2016.