![Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F031406-0017, Erfurt, Treffen Willy Brandt mit Willi Stoph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-F031406-0017%2C_Erfurt%2C_Treffen_Willy_Brandt_mit_Willi_Stoph.jpg)
''Neue Ostpolitik'' (German for "new eastern policy"), or ''Ostpolitik'' for short, was the normalization of relations between the
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
(FRG, or West Germany) and
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
, particularly the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
(GDR, or East Germany) beginning in 1969. Influenced by
Egon Bahr
Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr (; 18 March 1922 – 19 August 2015) was a German SPD politician.
The former journalist was the creator of the ''Ostpolitik'' promoted by West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, for whom he served as Secretary of State i ...
, who proposed "change through
rapprochement
In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word ''rapprocher'' ("to bring together"), is a re-establishment of cordial relations between two countries. This may be done due to a mutual enemy, as was the case with Germ ...
" in a 1963 speech at the
Evangelische Akademie Tutzing
The ' (Protestant Academy of Tutzing) is an education and conference center in Tutzing, Bavaria, run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. It was founded in 1947. The main building is Schloss Tutzing on Lake Starnberg. The academy awards ...
, the policies were implemented beginning with
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...
, fourth
Chancellor of the FRG from 1969 to 1974.
''Ostpolitik'' was an effort to break with the policies of the
Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which was the elected government of West Germany from 1949 until 1969. The Christian Democrats under
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a Germany, German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the fir ...
and his successors tried to combat the Communist government of East Germany, while Brandt's Social Democrats tried to achieve a certain degree of cooperation with East Germany.
The term ''Ostpolitik'' has since been applied to
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...
's efforts to engage Eastern European countries during the same period. The term ''
Nordpolitik
Nordpolitik (German for "Northern Policy") was the signature foreign policy of South Korean president Roh Tae-woo. The policy guided South Korean efforts to reach out to the traditional allies of North Korea, with the goal of normalized relations ...
'' was also coined to describe similar rapprochement policies between
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
beginning in the 1980s.
Intention
Following the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1945,
Allied-occupied Germany
Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...
was split into two states: the
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
(FRG, or West Germany) and the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
(GDR, or East Germany). Initially, both governments claimed that they represented the entire German nation. However, the Federal Republic saw itself as the only German government with democratic legitimacy. Later, at the end of the 1960s, the communist government of the GDR claimed that there was no longer a common German nation as the GDR had established a socialist nation.
The
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) political party dominated West German governments from 1949 to 1969. These governments refused to have any contact with the GDR government due to its undemocratic character, and the
Hallstein Doctrine
The Hallstein Doctrine (), named after Walter Hallstein, was a key principle in the foreign policy of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1955 to 1970. As usually presented, it prescribed that the Federal Republic would not esta ...
stipulated that the FRG would withdraw diplomatic contact from any country that established diplomatic relations with the GDR. The first application of the Hallstein Doctrine was in 1957, when the FRG withdrew recognition of
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
after it accepted a GDR ambassador. In the 1960s it became obvious that this policy would not work forever. When the Federal Republic established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1965, the Arab states countered by breaking off relations with the Federal Republic and establishing relations with the GDR.
Even before his election as
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
, Willy Brandt, the
Social Democratic
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
mayor of
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
, argued for and pursued policies that would ease tensions between the two German states, generally in the interest of cross-border commerce. His proposed new ''Ostpolitik'' held that the Hallstein Doctrine did not help to undermine the communist government or even lighten the situation of the Germans in the GDR. Brandt believed that collaboration with the communists would foster German-German encounters and trade that would undermine the communist government over the long term.
Nonetheless, he stressed that his new ''Ostpolitik'' did not neglect the close ties of the Federal Republic with Western Europe and the United States or its membership in
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
. Indeed, by the late 1960s, the unwavering stance of the Hallstein Doctrine was actually considered detrimental to US interests; numerous American advisors and policymakers, most notably
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
, urged Bonn to be more flexible. At the same time, other West European countries entered a period of more daring policy directed to the East. When the Brandt government became Chancellor in 1969, the same politicians now feared a more independent German ''Ostpolitik'', a new "
Rapallo
Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy.
As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiavar ...
". France feared that West Germany would become more powerful after
détente
Détente (, French: "relaxation") is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The term, in diplomacy, originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsuccessfully to reduc ...
; Brandt ultimately resorted to pressuring the French government into endorsing his policy by holding out German financial contributions to the European
Common Agricultural Policy
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce the ...
.
Realisation
The easing of tensions with the East envisioned by ''Ostpolitik'' necessarily began with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, the only Eastern Bloc state with which the Federal Republic had formal diplomatic ties (despite the aforementioned Hallstein Doctrine). In 1970 Brandt signed the
Treaty of Moscow, renouncing the use of force and recognizing the current European borders. Later that year, Brandt signed the
Treaty of Warsaw, in the process formally recognizing the
People's Republic of Poland
The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...
. The Treaty of Warsaw essentially repeated the Moscow treaty, and in particular reiterated the Federal Republic's recognition of the
Oder–Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line (german: Oder-Neiße-Grenze, pl, granica na Odrze i Nysie Łużyckiej) is the basis of most of the international border between Germany and Poland from 1990. It runs mainly along the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers an ...
. Treaties with other Eastern European countries followed.
The most controversial agreement was the
Basic Treaty of 1972 with East Germany, establishing formal relations between the two German states for the first time since partition. The situation was complicated by the Federal Republic's longstanding claim to represent the entire German nation; Chancellor Brandt sought to smooth over this point by repeating his 1969 statement that although two states exist in Germany, they cannot regard one another as foreign countries.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-Z1212-049, Döllnsee, Erich Honecker und Helmut Schmidt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-Z1212-049%2C_D%C3%B6llnsee%2C_Erich_Honecker_und_Helmut_Schmidt.jpg)
The conservative
CDU opposition party in the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
refused the Basic Treaty because they thought that the government gave away some Federal positions too easily. They also criticized flaws like the unintentional publishing of the ''Bahr-Papier'', a paper in which Brandt's right hand Egon Bahr had agreed with Soviet diplomat
Valentin Falin
Valentin Mikhailovich Falin (russian: Baлeнтин Mиxaйлoвич Фaлин) (3 April 1926 – 22 February 2018) was a Soviet diplomat and politician.
Early life
Falin was born in Leningrad. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Int ...
on essential issues.
The Brandt government, a coalition of Social Democrats and Free Democrats, lost a number of MPs to the CDU opposition in protest over the Basic Treaty. In April 1972 it even seemed that opposition leader
Rainer Barzel
Rainer Candidus Barzel (20 June 1924 – 26 August 2006) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the 8th President of the Bundestag from 1983 to 1984.
Barzel had been the leader of his parliamentary group ...
had enough support to become the new Chancellor, but in the parliamentary
constructive vote of no confidence in April 1972 he came two votes short. It later emerged that the GDR had paid the two CDU deputies to vote against Barzel. New
general elections in November 1972 gave the Brandt government a victory, and on 11 May 1973 the Federal Parliament approved the Basic Treaty.
According to the Basic Treaty the Federal Republic and GDR accepted each other's de facto ambassadors, termed "permanent representatives" for political reasons. The mutual recognition opened the door for both states to join the United Nations, as the Federal Republic's claim to representing the entire German nation was essentially dropped by the act of recognizing its Eastern counterpart.
The CDU/CSU persuaded the FDP to defect from its coalition with the SPD in 1982, and thus CDU leader
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
became Chancellor of West Germany. However, he did not change West German policy towards the GDR. Such was the consensus that ''Ostpolitik'' had been vindicated that
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n
Minister-President
A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. It ...
Franz Josef Strauß
Franz Josef Strauss ( ; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988) was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between ...
, who had fiercely fought against the Basic Treaty and was Kohl's main opponent within the CDU/CSU bloc, secured the passage of a Kohl-initiated loan of 3 billion
mark
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Fi ...
s to the GDR in 1983. In 1987, East German leader
Erich Honecker
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts ...
became the first ever East German head of state
to visit West Germany, which was generally seen as a sign that Kohl pursued ''Ostpolitik''.
Policies similar to Ostpolitik
German diplomatic traditions
German states (
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
and
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
as well as unified Germany) have long faced the issues of co-existing with their eastern neighbours, whatever the differences in culture, beliefs and outlook.
Bismarck's complex foreign-policy balances included the 1887
Reinsurance Treaty
The Reinsurance Treaty was a diplomatic agreement between the German Empire and the Russian Empire that was in effect from 1887 to 1890. Only a handful of top officials in Berlin and St. Petersburg knew of its existence since it was top secret. Th ...
with the
Second Reich
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
's eastern neighbour, the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
.
Weimar Germany
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...
broke out of a degree of diplomatic isolation by signing the
Treaty of Rapallo with
Soviet Russia in 1922.
The
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
, long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
, image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg
, image_width = 200
, caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...
of 1939 defied ideological differences and established trade and geopolitical agreements between
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and the Soviet Union.
Vatican diplomacy
''Ostpolitik'' is also the name given to the policies of
Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...
(in office: 1963-1978) towards the Soviet Union and its
Eastern European satellite states. Trying to improve the condition of Christians in general and
Catholics in particular behind the Iron Curtain, he engaged in dialogue with Communist authorities at several levels, receiving Foreign Minister
Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (russian: Андрей Андреевич Громыко; be, Андрэй Андрэевіч Грамыка; – 2 July 1989) was a Soviet communist politician and diplomat during the Cold War. He served as ...
and USSR head of state
Nikolai Podgorny
Nikolai Viktorovich Podgorny, ''Mykola Viktorovych Pidhornyy'' rus, Никола́й Ви́кторович Подго́рный, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ pɐdˈgornɨj, links=yes ( – 12 January 1983) was a Soviet statesman who ...
in 1966 and 1967 in the
Vatican. The situation of the Church in
Poland,
Hungary and
Romania improved somewhat during his pontificate.
[
Franzen 427.]
South Korea
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
's 1980s policy of ''
Nordpolitik
Nordpolitik (German for "Northern Policy") was the signature foreign policy of South Korean president Roh Tae-woo. The policy guided South Korean efforts to reach out to the traditional allies of North Korea, with the goal of normalized relations ...
'' was named in allusion to ''Ostpolitik''.
A similar concept is
Sunshine Policy
The Sunshine Policy () is the theoretical basis for South Korea's foreign policy towards North Korea. Its official title is The Reconciliation and Cooperation Policy Towards the North (), and it is also known as The Operational Policy Towards the ...
, which is the main North Korea policies of the
Democratic Party of Korea
The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK; ), formerly known as the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), is a liberal political party in South Korea. Controlling the unicameral National Assembly as of 2022, the DPK is regarded as one of two maj ...
.
Taiwan (Republic of China)
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
's
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
policy of ''
Mainlandpolitik'' is named in allusion to ''Ostpolitik''.
List of treaties
These are West German treaties that have ''Ostpolitik'' as a primary or secondary policy goal:
*
Permit Agreement from 17 December 1963
*
Treaty of Moscow from 12 August 1970
*
Treaty of Warsaw from 7 December 1970
*
Four Power Agreement on Berlin
The Four Power Agreement on Berlin, also known as the Berlin Agreement or the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin, was agreed on 3 September 1971 by the four wartime Allied powers, represented by their ambassadors. The four foreign ministers, Ale ...
from 3 September 1971
*
Transit Agreement from 17 December 1971
*
Basic Treaty from 21 December 1972
*
Treaty of Prague from 11 December 1973
Later agreements in the period of Christian Democrat
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
(from 1982 through
German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
in 1990), although dealing with similar issues and having similar goals, are not considered to be ''Ostpolitik''.
See also
*
Détente
Détente (, French: "relaxation") is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The term, in diplomacy, originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsuccessfully to reduc ...
*
Sunshine policy
The Sunshine Policy () is the theoretical basis for South Korea's foreign policy towards North Korea. Its official title is The Reconciliation and Cooperation Policy Towards the North (), and it is also known as The Operational Policy Towards the ...
*
Territorial evolution of Germany
The territorial evolution of Germany include all of changes on the territorial borders of Germany. Modern Germany was formed in 1871 when Kingdom of Prussia unified most of the German states, with the notable exception of Austria, into the Ger ...
Notes
Further reading
* Clemens, Clay. ''Reluctant Realists: The CDU/CSU and West German Ostpolitik'' (1989)
* Fink, Carol, Bernd Schaefer: ''Ostpolitik, 1969–1974, European and Global Responses'', (Cambridge University Press, 2009),
excerpt* Hofmann, Arne. ''The emergence of détente in Europe: Brandt, Kennedy and the formation of Ostpolitik.'' (Routledge, 2007).
* McAdams, A. James. "The New Diplomacy of the West German Ostpolitik." in ''The Diplomats, 1939-1979'' (Princeton University Press, 2019) pp. 537–563
online
External links
"Change through Rapprochement", excerpt from Egon Bahrs speechOstpolitik.net, international history project at the University of Mannheim
{{Cold War
German reunification
1963 in international relations
1969 in international relations
Cold War history of Germany
Foreign policy doctrines
East Germany–West Germany relations
History of the foreign relations of Germany
History of East Germany
Political history of Germany
Germany–Soviet Union relations
German words and phrases
Willy Brandt
History of diplomacy
Political terminology in Germany