Mentoring in Political Life: The Case of Willy Brandt

Mentoring relationships have a qualitative impact on the transition from early to middle adulthood, as well as on adult life itself. This paper proposes that the exploration of the role of mentors in the lives of political leaders will produce suggestive results. The study is a case history which examines the mentor in the early and later life of the adult male, here Willy Brandt. Brandt had two mentors: Julius Leber and Ernst Reuter. Reuter is briefly discussed but we focus here on the first of these, Leber, a prominent Social Democrat during the Weimar era and a legendary member of the German resistance. The essay describes the origins, nature and termination of the Brandt-Leber relationship. The influence of the mentor on the mentee transcended the period of their actual interaction and, as the paper procedes to demonstrate, the intensity of the relationship ensured that Brandt's self-image as Leber's heir continued to affect both professional and ideological choices.