Eine Biografie im Schatten Willy Brandts. Gertrud Meyer (1914-2002). Ein politisches Leben im Kampf gegen Nationalsozialismus und Faschismus zwischen Lübeck, Oslo und New York

Abstract

The article deals with the political life of Gertrud Meyer, an activist of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Germany (SAP), long-time partner of Willy Brandt (who would become Chancellor of Germany in 1969), collaborator of psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, and close friend of the dissident communist Jacob Walcher. Based on meticulous archival research, the article traces Meyer’s life and political work, including resistance in Nazi Germany, exile in Norway and the US, and post-war life back in Norway. Far from being only an aid of Brandt (on whom the article als sheds new light), Gertrud Meyer was, so the autor argues, a powerful political agent of her own, exerting crucial influence on the political lives of her male comrades.

Wissenschaftliche Referentin im Archiv der sozialen Demokratie der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bonn