What Is The Ostpolitik
Describe Brandt’s “Ostpolitik”. Assess the achievements of this policy for the people in East and West Germany as well as in Poland.
“Ostpolitik” was a daring policy led by Willy Brandt during the 1960s. It was a bid to improve relations between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Soviet Union. It was progressive, successful and ultimately, it was done for the German nation and its citizens. Brandt knew that if changes were going to happen, if the divide between the two separate nations could be lessened; it would have to be done by the German people themselves. Many West Germans disputed over the “Ostpolitik” yet the lasting success of it benefitted many more people. Brandt declared ‘The Germans must be at peace with themselves so that the world can be at peace with Germany.’[1] …show more content…
Efforts were made too by Kurt Georg Kiesinger, chancellor of the Grand Coalition of the Christian Democratic Union, the Christian Social Union and Social Democratic parties from 1966 to 1969, who also had the long-term aim of German reunification. However, their efforts made little ground and their attempts to ease relations with Eastern countries such as Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria were prevented by the Soviet Union.
The wheels of the “Ostpolitik” came into motion once more in July 1963 when Willy Brandt, a former Mayor of Berlin and future first socialist Chancellor of the FRG, and Egon Bahr (his “Ostpolitik” advisor), proposed new German and Eastern policies at a conference in Tutzing. They began with recognising that the catastrophe of World War II began with the National Socialists rise to power in 1933, and how Germany should accept their past and so began a period of
“Ostpolitik” was a daring policy led by Willy Brandt during the 1960s. It was a bid to improve relations between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Soviet Union. It was progressive, successful and ultimately, it was done for the German nation and its citizens. Brandt knew that if changes were going to happen, if the divide between the two separate nations could be lessened; it would have to be done by the German people themselves. Many West Germans disputed over the “Ostpolitik” yet the lasting success of it benefitted many more people. Brandt declared ‘The Germans must be at peace with themselves so that the world can be at peace with Germany.’[1] …show more content…
Efforts were made too by Kurt Georg Kiesinger, chancellor of the Grand Coalition of the Christian Democratic Union, the Christian Social Union and Social Democratic parties from 1966 to 1969, who also had the long-term aim of German reunification. However, their efforts made little ground and their attempts to ease relations with Eastern countries such as Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria were prevented by the Soviet Union.
The wheels of the “Ostpolitik” came into motion once more in July 1963 when Willy Brandt, a former Mayor of Berlin and future first socialist Chancellor of the FRG, and Egon Bahr (his “Ostpolitik” advisor), proposed new German and Eastern policies at a conference in Tutzing. They began with recognising that the catastrophe of World War II began with the National Socialists rise to power in 1933, and how Germany should accept their past and so began a period of