The figure of Willy Brandt, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the historic gesture he made at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes during the first official visit of a West German Chancellor to postwar Poland (December 7, 1970) remain a symbol of Polish-Jewish-German reconciliation.

"It may seem paradoxical that one of the two main conference rooms at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews should bear the name of a German. That’s why it is important to recall the context of the events from 1970. On December 7, Willy Brandt, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, arrived in Warsaw. In the course of his visit, Mr Brandt demonstrated his enormous political and civil courage twice. First, he signed a tractate on borders with the Polish government which confirmed Poland’s western border along the Oder and Nysa Łużycka rivers. Next, he headed to the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. Having laid a wreath of flowers on its steps, the Chancellor knelt in front of the Monument," recalls Marian Turski, Chair of the POLIN Museum Council.

Mr Turski went on to quote an opinion by a reporter of Der Spiegel weekly:

"The very one who doesn’t need to do it knelt for all those who do need to kneel yet don’t do it, be it because they lack the courage or cannot bring themselves to do so. He confesses the guilt he does not bear and asks for forgiveness which he himself does not need."

The event was attended by distinguished guests, representatives of the governments of Poland and Germany: Anke Rehlinger, President of the Bundesrat, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Marshal of the Polish Senate.

The event was hosted by: Zygmunt Stępński, Director of POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Piotr Wiślicki, President of the Board, Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.