Trips 1927–1940
© Willy-Brandt-Archiv im AdsD, Bonn
As an adolescent, Willy Brandt becomes familiar with Denmark, Norway and Sweden on holiday trips. From his exile in Norway, beginning in 1933 he travels through half of Europe until the outbreak of World War II. His most frequent destination is France’s capital city, Paris.
1927
| July 1927 | Vejle (Denmark) German-Danish student exchange |
1928
| July 1928 | Estetal (Germany) Participation in the Children’s Republic on the Lüneburg Heath |
1929
| July 1929 | Andernach (Germany) Participation in the Children’s Republic on the Rhine river island Namedy |
1930
| 18–25 July 1930 | Kopenhagen (Denmark) Member of a delegation of the Socialist Workers’ Youth (SAJ) at the International Workers’ Youth Convention |
1931
| July 1931 | Skandinavia Three-week holiday trip with stopovers including Copenhagen (Denmark), Bergen and Oslo (Norway) as well as Gothenborg (Sweden) |
1933
| 11/12 March 1933 | Dresden (Germany) Participation in the party convention of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Germany (SAPD) |
| 3–7 April 1933 | Oslo (Norway) Escape from Lübeck (Germany) by way of Rødbyhavn und Copenhagen (Denmark) |
| 20–28 October 1933 | Stockholm (Sweden) Congress of the youth association of the Communist Party in Sweden (Kilbom-KP) |
1934
| 12 February– 18 March 1934 |
France / Netherlands / Belgium Discussions in Paris at the foreign headquarters of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Germany (SAPD) chaired by Jacob Walcher and participation in an international youth conference in Laren (Netherlands) and Brussels (Belgium) |
| August 1934 | Malmö (Sweden) / Copenhagen (Denmark) International youth conference; meeting of SAPD members |
1935
| 8 February– 11 March 1935 |
Paris (France) i.a. Conference of the “Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft (IAG)” (“international Alliance”) and meeting of the SAPD’s foreign headquarters chaired by Jacob Walcher |
| 21/22 April 1935 | Stockholm (Sweden) Conference of the SAPD’s Scandinavian exile groups |
| August 1935 | Copenhagen (Denmark) Accompanied by Gertrud Meyer meeting with his mother Martha Kuhlmann |
1936
| late April– early June 1936 |
Paris (France) i.a. Consultations with the foreign headquarters of the SAOD chaired by Jacob Walcher and meeting of the “Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft (IAG)” (“International Alliance”) |
| September– October 1936 |
Paris (France) Consultations with the foreign headquarters of the SAPD |
| October– December 1936 |
Berlin (Germany) Incognito visit as a Norwegian student for secret contacts with the SAPD underground groups |
| late December 1936 | Prag und Brünn (Czechoslovakia) Meeting and holiday with Gertrud Meyer after departure from Berlin (Germany) |
1937
| 1–12 January 1937 | Moravian-Ostrau (Czechoslovakia) / Warsaw (Poland) SAPD party conference (“Kattowitz Conference”) chaired by Jacob Walcher and Congress of the youth of the “General Jewish Workers’ Federation in Poland” (return trip from Warsaw to Oslo by way of Danzig and Copenhagen) |
| Mid-February 1937 | Paris (France) Preparations for a visit of several months in Spain |
| early March– late June 1937 |
Barcelona (Spain) Observer of the Spanish Civil War and partivipant in an international youth conference representing the SAPD |
| July/August 1937 | Paris (France) i.a. Meeting of the SAPD’s foreign headquarters |
| 8–12 August 1937 | Letchworth (Great Britain) Meeting of the “Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft (IAG)” (“International Alliance”) |
| 16–21 August 1937 | Sweden Conference of the Socialist Youth Association of Germany (SJVD) in Southern Sweden |
| 16/17 Oktober 1937 | Gothenburg (Sweden) Nordic People’s Front conference |
1938
| 24 June– 11 July 1938 |
Netherlands / Belgium Interpreter for a delegation of the Norwegian Municipal Workers’ Union |
| July– September 1938 |
Paris (France) i.a. Meeting of the “Freie Deutsche Jugend (FDJ)” (“Free German Youth”), meeting of the “Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft (IAG)” (“International Alliance”) and negotiations for the establishment of a German popular front |
1940
| 30 June/1 July 1940 | Sweden Escape from the occupied Norway across the border into its neutral neighbouring country |
| late December 1940– 3 Januar 1941 |
Oslo (Norway) from Stockholm (Sweden) “illegal” trip to occupied Norway i.a. for a family visit over Christmas and New Year |