Word: ostpolitiking
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...October speech, with its enunciation of his Ostpolitik, had touched off a flurry of diplomatic activity between Bonn and its Communist neighbors. Since then, Brandt had said little. So this time he felt it necessary to deal exclusively with foreign policy, for he is determined to break the enduring impasse in Central Europe. Most of the speech was directed at East Germany's spade-bearded Boss Walter Ulbricht, who fears that any improvement in Bonn's relations with Warsaw and Moscow will undermine his own bargaining position with West Germany. Last month Ulbricht sent Brandt a proposed treaty...
...want not only the achievement of national unity but also the unity of state as well." One delegate even accused the Chancellor of "jeopardizing" Bonn's sovereignty. Nonetheless, after letting off steam, the Christian Democrats agreed to support Brandt's policy toward East Germany. Even if his Ostpolitik has run into some resistance in the Communist countries, it still commands support in West Germany...
Teutonic Overkill. The Germans were principally interested in two facets of church activity. One was what they referred to as Ostpolitik des Vatikans. Despite the Vatican's obvious hostility to Communism, Hitler was obsessed with the illogical idea that Rome and the Russians were about to form an alliance. Thus when Pius in 1942 ordered two monsignori to study Russian, the order stirred apprehensive speculation in Berlin. Nazi leaders like Martin Bormann and Reinhardt ("The Hangman") Heydrich were also interested in what Heydrich called "political Catholicism." Certain that the church was attempting to establish a political alternative...
West German Chancellor Willy Brandt has had less than three months to apply his Ostpolitik, so it is hardly surprising that he has not yet achieved any significant relaxation of tensions in Central Europe. Last week, in fact, Moscow stiffened its attitude toward Bonn by endorsing Walter Ulbricht's demand for full diplomatic recognition of East Germany. One effect of Brandt's initiatives toward the East, however, has been all too apparent: the exhaustion of ranking West German diplomats...