Bahr, Egon
(former speaker of the Berlin Senate) , speaking German:
- "There was no reason to be afraid of this Germany. This was a different Germany. It was a very unusual story: the independent eastern-politics increased the role of the Federal Republic in Europe, but still there was nothing to fear from the growing influence of Germany."
Edelmann, Marek
(a survivor of the ghetto in Warsaw) , speaking German:
- "Poland has not forgotten about the monstrosity of the war and the occupation. We distrusted Germany and Brandt knew this. That is why he looked for a big gesture that could change our image of them. "
Reich-Ranicki, Marcel
(survivor in Warsaw 1943, literature critic) , speaking German:
- "Brandt stood exactly on that place in the Warsaw ghetto where once my and my wife‘s destinies were decided. We were taken out and we did not know whether we had to go left to the station and then to the gas chambers or right, and then we could still live for a short while. "
Gutmann, Israel
(survivor in Warsaw, 1943) , speaking English:
- "Sometimes whole families were lying on the streets and pavements, waiting only for passing away. Hunger, illness or the cold put an end to their lives. "
Reich-Ranicki, Marcel
(survivor in Warsaw 1943, literature critic) , speaking German:
- "The resistance movement, which unfortunately started to form very late in the Warsaw ghetto, tried to find out what happened with the people. Soon light was shed on the mystery: everybody would be killed."
Brandt, Willy
(german politic ) , speaking German:
- "This horrible issue exceeded every theory and I thought -actually I couldn’t have done anything else – that I have to apologize. I, who did not belong to Hitler‘s most barbarous followers, wanted to offer an apology on behalf of my nation, and to pray that we would be forgiven. "
Scheel, Walter
(Secretary of state at that time) , speaking German:
- "When he stepped forward, he did not yet know what he would do. Everybody who saw him felt this."
Bahr, Egon
(former speaker of the Berlin Senate) , speaking German:
- "As we got closer, we noticed that there was absolute silence."
Reich-Ranicki, Marcel
(survivor in Warsaw 1943, literature critic) , speaking German:
- "I will never forget that. And I will never forget him either, that he played a huge role even in my life. Maybe at that moment, I realised that it was the right thing to leave Poland in 1958 and build my life in Germany."
Löwenthal, Gerhard
(TV reporter) , speaking German:
- "I found Brandt‘s gesture at that time – even if it sounds rude now – overly humble. "
Edelmann, Marek
(a survivor of the ghetto in Warsaw) , speaking German:
- "Brandt‘s gesture meant a turning point in the history. Something changed in Germany. We could trust the Germans again. Brandt sank down on his knees on behalf of his nation.
It was a great deed."