Egon Bahr

Egon Bahr
Bahr in 1969
Federal Manager of the Social Democratic Party
In office 15 December 1976 – 23 February 1981
Leader	Willy Brandt
Preceded by	Holger Börner
Succeeded by	Peter Glotz
Minister for Economic Cooperation
In office 8 July 1974 – 14 December 1976
Chancellor	Helmut Schmidt
Preceded by	Erhard Eppler
Succeeded by	Marie Schlei
Minister for Special Affairs
In office 15 December 1972 – 16 May 1974 Serving with Werner Maihofer
Chancellor	Willy Brandt
Preceded by	Horst Ehmke
Succeeded by	Wolfgang Schäuble (1984)
State Secretary in the Chancellery Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin
In office 1969–1972
Chancellor	Willy Brandt
Preceded by	Carl Krautwig
Succeeded by	Dietrich Spangenberg
Bundestag constituencies Member of the Bundestag for Schleswig-Holstein In office 29 March 1983 – 20 December 1990 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by multi-member district Constituency Social Democratic Party List In office 14 December 1976 – 29 March 1983 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Harm Dallmeyer Constituency Flensburg – Schleswig In office 13 December 1972 – 14 December 1976 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by multi-member district Constituency Social Democratic Party List
Personal details
Born	Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr (1922-03-18)18 March 1922 Treffurt, Province of Saxony, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic (now Thuringia, Germany)
Died	19 August 2015(2015-08-19) (aged 93) Berlin, Germany
Political party	Social Democratic Party (1956–2015)
Spouses	Dorothea Grob ​ ​ (m. 1945; died 2011)​ Adelheid Bonnemann-Böhner ​ ​ (m. 2011)​
Children	3
Occupation	Politician Journalist Diplomat Civil Servant
Military service
Allegiance	Germany
Branch/service	Luftwaffe
Years of service	1942–1944
Rank	Fahnenjunker
Unit	Luftkriegsschule VI
Battles/wars	World War II

Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr (German pronunciation: [ˈeːɡɔn kaʁlˈhaɪnts ˈbaːɐ̯]; 18 March 1922 – 19 August 2015) was a German SPD politician.^[1]

The former journalist was the creator of the Ostpolitik promoted by West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, for whom he served as Secretary of State in the German Chancellery from 1969 until 1972. Between 1972 and 1990 he was an MP in the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany and from 1972 until 1976 was also a Minister of the Federal Government.

Bahr was a key figure in multiple negotiation sessions between not only East and West Germany, but also West Germany and the Soviet Union. In addition to his instrumental role in Ostpolitik, Bahr was also an influential voice in negotiating the Treaty of Moscow, the Treaty of Warsaw, the Transit Treaty of 1971, and the Basic Treaty of 1972.