Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of Poland on the basis of the normalization of their mutual relations

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Chronological overview of the Eastern Treaties, 1963–1973

The treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of Poland on the basis of normalization of their mutual relations ( Warsaw Treaty ) is a bilateral treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of Poland . The treaty was signed on December 7, 1970 and ratified by the German Bundestag on May 17, 1972 ( Federal Law Gazette 1972 II p. 362 ff.).

negotiations

On the Polish side, the first attempts to establish diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Germany were undertaken in the second half of the 1950s, without the Federal Republic having given any consideration. An agreement on the exchange of commercial agencies from 1963 was then initiated by Germany. The Polish side made further agreements dependent on the clarification of the border issues. Poland turned down the offer to establish diplomatic relations in 1967. In 1969 Władysław Gomułka proposed negotiations on the recognition of the Oder-Neisse border . Soon after the formation of the social-liberal government, negotiations on declarations of non-violence began with Poland and the Soviet Union . From February 1970 several roundtables took place in Warsaw. These culminated in the specific contract negotiations in November 1970.

The contract was finally signed by Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt and Polish Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz, as well as the foreign ministers of both countries.

Content of the contract

The agreement was on West German side of the Eastern treaties , which under the new Ostpolitik , a policy of detente was operated. In fact, the Warsaw Treaty as a whole is called: Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of Poland on the basis for normalizing their mutual relations .

In it, the Federal Republic assured the Oder-Neisse line agreed at the Potsdam Conference between the victorious powers as the de facto western border of Poland, in that both countries affirmed that their borders are inviolable. You undertake not to raise any territorial claims and are committed to nonviolence in the sense of the United Nations .

The relationship is based on the Charter of the United Nations .

In order to signal that the treaty would not affect the rights of the former allies with regard to Germany as a whole and to Berlin , since a peace treaty is still pending, the German government exchanged notes with the western allies France and Great Britain prior to the conclusion of the treaty and the USA. This exchange of notes was brought to the attention of the Polish government on November 20th. It stated that the federal government was acting “only for the Federal Republic” and that the rights of the victorious powers would not be affected. The reservation of the final regulation of the borders by means of a peace treaty has been formally preserved. In return, the Polish government promised to allow a limited number of people who should be considered to be German nationals to leave the country for humanitarian reasons.

Political implementation

On the day of the signing, Brandt knelt in front of the monument to the heroes of the ghetto . This gesture went down in history as the kneeling of Warsaw . While still in Warsaw, Willy Brandt justified his policy in a television speech. In it he stated that the contract did not reveal anything that "had not long since been gambled away", not by those who were responsible in the Federal Republic, "but by a criminal regime, National Socialism."

Domestically, the Warsaw Treaty was highly controversial. The possibility of a contract with VR Poland was much more controversial among the German public than the previously concluded Moscow contract . In particular, the expellees resisted a possible recognition of the Oder-Neisse line . But between 1967 and March 1970, polls showed that the number of contract opponents fell from 35 to 25%. Nevertheless, the Brandt-Scheel government still had to reckon with a significant minority in the country.

The CDU / CSU - opposition accused Chancellor Willy Brandt before that he divulge German interests and the Federal Republic prior to the conclusion of a peace treaty is not entitled to the areas east of the Oder-Neisse line to dispense.

In connection with the debate about the Eastern Treaty, MPs like Herbert Hupka moved from the government camp to the opposition. On April 27, 1972, the government barely survived a constructive vote of no confidence . Negotiations between the government and the opposition began, particularly about the position on the Eastern Treaty. A planned resolution of the Bundestag met the opposition. It said that the treaty did not anticipate a peace treaty settlement, since an amicable change of the borders was possible. In the Union there were leading politicians like Rainer Barzel or Richard von Weizsäcker who, against this background, were in favor of approval. Others like Franz Josef Strauss and most of the expellees politicians were strictly against it. Most CDU and CSU MPs therefore abstained from voting on the Eastern Treaty. Only 17 MPs voted against the Warsaw Treaty. In this respect, the majority of the opposition has at least not prevented the ratification of the treaties; the joint declaration of the Bundestag was passed almost unanimously. The Union-governed countries also abstained in the Federal Council . On June 3, 1972 after the ratification of the Moscow and Warsaw Treaties by the USSR and Poland, the Treaties came into force. On the same day, the Federal Republic and Poland established diplomatic relations.

The Polish government under Władysław Gomułka hoped that the foreign policy success of this treaty would distract the population from domestic problems, and shortly afterwards increased the prices of consumer goods by up to 38%. However, the expectations were not fulfilled. Instead, the December 1970 uprising broke out soon after .

Further development

After German reunification , Germany and Poland signed the German-Polish border treaty on November 14, 1990, an international treaty in which they finally established the Oder-Neisse border: the contracting parties confirmed it as an "inviolable" border between the two states and therefore renounced it on future territorial claims.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. records of speakers Legationsrätin I. class in the Foreign Office Finke Osiander for the Federal Chancellery, Bonn, April 30, 1975. In: Documents on Germany Politics , Vol. 4: 1 January 1975 - 31 December 1976. Oldenbourg, Munich 2007, Pp. 164-166.
  2. contract text
  3. ^ Heinrich August Winkler : The long way to the west. Vol. 2: German History 1933–1990 , Bonn 2005, pp. 287 f.
  4. ^ Heinrich August Winkler: The long way to the west. Vol. 2: German History 1933–1990 , Bonn 2005, p. 288.
  5. ^ Heinrich August Winkler: The long way to the west. Vol. 2: German History 1933–1990 , Bonn 2005, p. 287.
  6. ^ Heinrich August Winkler: The long way to the west. Vol. 2: German History 1933–1990 , Bonn 2005, pp. 297–300.
  7. Manfred Alexander : Little History of Poland , Federal Agency for Civic Education , Bonn 2005, ISBN 3-89331-662-0 , p. 343 f.

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