Polen und die deutsche Ostpolitik 1945–1990

After World War II, the annexation of Poland and the displacement of many Germans from the Eastern regions, the relationship between Poland and Germany appeared to be dominated by the new hostility between the two countries. Only after Willy Brandt introduced his “New Ostpolitik” in 1969, oriented as it was toward a reconciliation with the peoples of Eastern Europe, did things change for the better. Initially the relations between East Germany and Poland became better. The Görlitz Agreement of 1950, which guaranteed the validity of the Oder-Neiße boundary, created the stable basis for a bilateral contract. With the help of new archive materials from Moscow, Warsaw, Berlin, London and Washington DC, the author draws a new picture of German Ostpolitik.