The spy at his back: Willy Brandt and Günter Guillaume at a campaign event at a Braunschweig (Brunswick) coal mine, 8 April 1974 (Photo: The Federal Government, Photographer: Ludwig Wegemann)
Günter Guillaume, a GDR spy in the West German Chancellery and personal adviser to Chancellor Willy Brandt, is arrested. Willy Brandt steps down on 6 May as a consequence; Helmut Schmidt is later chosen as his successor. In December 1975 Guillaume is sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment for spying for the GDR; his wife is sentenced to eight years in jail.
RIAS report on the Günter Guillaume espionage case, 25 April 1974 (in German) (Source: Archiv Deutschlandradio, Broadcast: Rundschau am Mittag, Moderator/Reporter: Joachim Cadenbach, Gerd Kolbe, Helmut Hohrmann)
RIAS interview with the SPD parliamentary party chairman Herbert Wehner about the resignation of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, 7 May 1974 (in German) (Source: Archiv Deutschlandradio, Broadcast: Rundschau am Morgen, Reporter: Wolf-Dieter Roeske)
24 April
1974
West Germany and the GDR sign an agreement on non-commercial clearing and payment transactions, and on healthcare. The latter includes introducing medical treatment free of charge during travel to the respective other state.
