Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Willi Brandt's kneeling in homage to the victims of Nazism in the Polish capital of Warsaw marked Germany's most decisive break with the Hitler era and--though very controversial in Germany itself--began the rapprochement that culminated in Germany reunification in 1989. . . . Brandt became chancellor of West Germany in 1969 and embarked on a controversial Ostpolitik ('East policy'), opening contacts with East Germany and other communist countries in a process he hoped would lead to the spread of democracy. Ostpolitik culminated in a treaty that relaxed relations between the two German states. . . . But the gesture caused Time magazine to name Brandt as their Man of the Year for 1970, and the following year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." [Furtado: 1001 Days]