Ostpolitik

Ostpolitik or Eastern Politics describes the realisation of the "Change through Rapprochement" principle, verbalised by Egon Bahr in 1963, by the effort of Willy Brandt, Chancellor of West Germany, to normalize relations with Eastern European nations including East Germany.

Intention and Realisation

The goal of the Ostpolitik of the 1970s was to surmount but not to reverse the existing Status Quo between the two German states, which were formed in 1948 after World War II, and to ultimately lead to their reunification, while giving up the goal of immediate reunification as a prerequisite to all other decisions.

Related Topics:
Status Quo - 1948 - World War II

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Among the elements of Ostpolitik was abandonment of the Hallstein Doctrine and recognition of the Oder-Neisse line as the border between Poland and East Germany.

Related Topics:
Hallstein Doctrine - Oder-Neisse line - Poland

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Also important was closer trading relations with Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. This helped shore up the faltering communist economies, but it also made visible to the citizens of Eastern Europe the contrast between the wealth and high quality consumer goods of the west and the relative poverty of the east.

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