A Basic Understanding: The Creation of a Basic Treaty Between Two Germanys

The Basic Treaty

After a series of treaties and agreements between East and West Germany between 1969 and 1972, an agreement now known as the Basic Treaty was reached on December 21, 1972 establishing that both nations recognized the existence and legitimacy of one another. For the  first time since the end of World War II the two sides recognized one another as former members of a unified Germany and broke ground for de-escalating tensions. While true reunification would not come for another 17 years, the Basic Treaty and those leading up to it helped establish both sides as independent from the wishes of the two global superpowers that sponsored their efforts. The Basic Treaty followed the trend of Nixon Era Cold War negotiations known as Détente, where both sides sought to ease tensions to try to come to some form of agreement. Though Détente would largely fail with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the Basic Treaty survived and the two Germanys retained peace.

Changing Tides

Though the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1962 spiked tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, hostility was not the desired status of those in either German nation, a large portion of whom still held kinship across the Iron Curtain. In the fall of 1969, West Germany (also known as the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG), led by the newly dominant Social-Liberal Coalition and its chancellor Willy Brandt, sought to break with the status quo and seek peace with the Soviet Union and East Germany. This began on November 28th with the FRG signing into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which marked the first time the FRG entered peaceful negotiations with the Soviet World. This new policy of Ostpolitik,  “openness to the East”, would find greater footing the following year with the first Ostvertrӓge, a sweeping treaty signed in Moscow between the FRG and the Soviet Union. The Ostvertrӓge established a peaceful, non-aggressive relationship between the two nations that barred either from taking hostile action against the other and deepened trade relations. From there, further negotiations between the “Four Allied Powers” (US, UK, France, and USSR) helped to establish channels by which West Germans could peaceably travel through East Germany and re-established communications between West and East Berlin. These communications laid the groundwork for the Basic Treaty. While the two nations came to recognize each other’s legitimacy as independent nations and opened talks between them, recognition of this legitimacy further entrenched the inviolability of the borders. Whereas past rhetoric had been that those that escaped from East to West Germany were akin to POWs escaping back to their homeland, the Basic Treaty established that such actors would now be treated as immigrants that were not lawfully present in West Germany. Ultimately this would be seen as inconsequential compared to the greater accomplishments of the treaty, as it ensured peace between the two nations and led to global recognition of each nation.

The American Domestic Response

The coverage of the Basic Treaty in the New York Times was quite a roller coaster in the week immediately following its signing. Initial reactions from the American side were hugely optimistic, with hopes that this could lead to totally dispelled tensions between the two Germanys. An article from December 22nd (the day after the signing of the treaty) lauded that the treaty gave East Germany its long desired global recognition and would allow West Germans to see their isolated family members once again. Though there were some reservations about the seeming lack of attention given to certain aspects such as total nonaggression, they were initially dispelled as the presumed benefits would pave way to such outcomes. These reservations quickly grew into pessimism as new details emerged regarding the treaty, as it became clear that life did not markedly improve for East Germans. In an article from December 27, six days after the signing of the treaty, an article titled “Damper on Détente” cautioned that the Soviet support of the treaty appeared to be centered around rooting out intellectual dissenters. While West Germans could more freely visit East Germany, the treaty actually tightened travel restrictions on East Germans, with some two million residents now unable to travel across the border even on special occasions. This article, published less than a week later, was already doubtful as to the actual progress the treaty would bring about, as the desired outcome of freer flow of people and ideas espoused in the West was now less likely to arise. Coverage soon mellowed out after this, as it came to be recognized as a step in the right direction for unified Germany, but not quite as large as many had hoped.

West Germany, 1972

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