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Willy Brandt Visits Jerusalem (June 7-11, 1973)
Following an invitation by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, Willy Brandt traveled to Israel in June 1973, becoming the first German Chancellor to visit the country. In Jerusalem, he visited the Wailing Wall, the Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Church of the Redeemer. Aware of the symbolic importance of the moment, Brandt read nine verses from the Old Testament as part of a wreath-laying ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. In this picture, Brandt is seen in Jerusalem’s Old Town.