Abstract

Taken on April 8, 1974, this photo shows Chancellor Willy Brandt (left) with his personal advisor and close confidant Günter Guillaume (right) at a railroad yard presumably near Braunschweig. A few days later, on April 24, 1974, West German police and the domestic intelligence service [Verfassungsschutz] arrested Guillaume as a spy for the GDR. At the time of his arrest, Guillaume admitted to being an officer in the GDR’s National People’s Army as well as an employee of the Ministry for State Security [Stasi]. Though Brandt had been informed of suspicions of espionage against Guillaume as early as May 1973, Guillaume remained the chancellor’s aide for almost another year. Shocked by this betrayal, Brandt assumed political responsibility for the espionage affair and resigned from office on May 7,1974.

The Guillaume Affair (April/May 1974)

Source

Source: Chancellor Willy Brandt on an election campaign trip. Günter Guillaume next to him on the right. April 8, 1974. Photo: Ludwig Wegmann. Signature: B 145 Bild-F042453-0011, Bundesarchiv. 
Available online at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_affair#/media/File:Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-F042453-0011,_Niedersachsen,_Brandt_im_Wahlkampf.jpg

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.