Willy Brandt was certainly one of the politicians whose prolific work and legacy formed a lasting image of the new Germany after WWII. During the cold war he embodied the hope for peaceful coexistence especially for people in the GDR. Given his distinctive charisma, he has remained in people’s memories. Young Willy Brandt spent the years from 1933 until 1945 in Sweden and Norway. The time in exile were his "political and human apprenticeship" and he himself referred to them as the most important ones in his life. In Norway, Brandt used to point out, he learned that "you don’t climb a mountain by simply running towards its peak". Prof. Einart Lorenz, the leading expert on Brandt who had the opportunity to often speak to the man himself, guides us when we discover which pieces of his "Scandinavian baggage" Brandt kept for the future and which of these we should keep for the European future.

Jointly staged and organized to celebrate Willy Brandt’s 100th birthday with the Willy-Brandt-Foundation Berlin and Norway.