The Foundations of Ostpolitik: The Making of the Moscow Treaty between West Germany and the USSR

Abstract

This work deals with the main aspects of the creation of Ostpolitik by the Social Democratic government of Willy Brandt. Ostpolitik would replace the Hallstein Doctrine, supported by the Christian Democratic Party administration between 1955 and 1959, which maintained that West Germany had the exclusive right to represent the entire German nation and that, with the exception of the Soviet Union, West Germany would not establish or maintain diplomatic relations with any state that recognized East Germany. Von Dannenberg assesses whether Brandt's Ostpolitik represented continuity or change from the policies endorsed by previous administrations, notably that of Kurt-Georg Kiesinger. The author seems to conclude that Brandt's policies represented change more than continuity. Von Dannenberg also concentrates on the goals of Ostpolitik and the Moscow Treaty, arguing that the making of the treaty propped up the Western détente strategy and at the same time represented ‘a bold policy of pursuing the national interests of increasing autonomy for West Germany and of easing the way to reunification’ (p. 6).