In 2020, Germany issued a circulating commemorative €2 coin to mark the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Genuflection (in German: 50 Jahre Kniefall von Warschau).
Called Kniefall von Warschau or Warschauer Kniefall in German, the "Warsaw genuflection" refers to West German Chancellor Willy Brandt kneeling and giving a moment of silence during a visit to a Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial in 1970. The event took place on 7 December 1970, in Warsaw, Poland, during a visit to a monument to the German occupation-era Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. After laying a wreath, Brandt unexpectedly, and apparently spontaneously, knelt. He remained silently in that position for a short time (half a minute), surrounded by a large group of dignitaries and press photographers. Brandt had actively resisted the early Nazi regime, and had spent most of the time of Hitler's reign in exile. The occasion of Brandt's visit to Poland at the time was the signing of the Treaty of Warsaw between West Germany and Poland, guaranteeing German acceptance of the new borders of Poland. The treaty was one of the Brandt-initiated policy steps (the "Ostpolitik") to ease tensions between West and East during the Cold War.
Germany has five mints which strike circulation coins; they are distinguished by their mint marks - A for Berlin, D for Munich, F for Stuttgart, G for Karlsruhe and J for Hamburg. The set contains five coins with the same design, each struck by a different mint and with its respective mint mark. The quality is BU (Brilliant Uncirculated), which in German is called Stempelglanz. |