Worse than Baerbock – Germany’s biggest dirt drive

Germany’s biggest filth campaign

In the 1961 and 1965 election campaigns, Willie Brandt was attacked and defamed as a candidate for chancellor. The attacks were much worse than those targeting Annalina Barbook today.

Dominic Forrest

Publication date: 02/08/2021 8:59 PM

Konrad Adenauer, the first Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (left) in conversation with Berlin Mayor Willie Brandt with his wife Ruth Brandt (right) in 1960.

Photo: Keystone/Str

Not everything was better in the past, especially at the level of election campaigns. One can find the attacks on Annalena Baerbock in 2021 to be clumsy and subjective, they do not represent the low point of democratic competition in the Federal Republic.

This was achieved 60 years ago when Social Democrat and Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt applied for the chancellorship for the first time. He was subjected to a smear campaign from the right and the conservative, which affected every aspect of his personality, from his origins to his political views and lifestyle, which is unparalleled to this day.

To read this article in full, you need a subscription.