Abstract

Group photograph of Germany’s first Grand Coalition cabinet in 1966 under Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU), with SPD leader Willy Brandt as vice chancellor and foreign minister. The government formed by Kiesinger remained in power for nearly three years and established diplomatic relations with Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia, among other achievements. The interlude of this Grand Coalition paved the way for a power shift at the federal level in 1969, when Willy Brandt became chancellor of the first coalition government between the Social Democratic Party and the Free Democratic Party (SPD/FDP) in the Federal Republic.

Germany’s First Grand Coalition Government (1966)

Source

Source: On December 7, 1966, the new cabinet of the Grand Coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD met in Bonn’s Palais Schaumburg for its constituent session. Our picture shows, starting with Gerhard Schröder (CDU) sitting in profile to the camera, from l-r: Hermann Höcherl (CSU), Franz Josef Strauß (CSU), Karl Schiller (SPD), Gerhard Stoltenberg (CDU), Georg Leber (SPD), Carlo Schmid (SPD), Käthe Strobel (SPD), Hans Katzer (CDU), Bruno Heck (CDU), Lauritz Lauritzen (SPD), Willy Brandt (SPD), Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU), Herbert Wehner (SPD), Paul Lücke (CDU), Gustav Heinemann (SPD), Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski (SPD), Kurt Schmücker (CDU) and Werner Dollinger (CSU, with his back to the camera). Photo: Egon Steiner. Date: July 12, 1966. Picture-Alliance/ dpa. Media no. 8565297.

Recommended Citation

Germany’s First Grand Coalition Government (1966), published in: German History in Documents and Images, <https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/two-germanies-1961-1989/ghdi:image-5035> [December 19, 2024].