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This book explores the development of relations between West Germany and the Soviet Union. Avril Pittman examines from a West German perspective four issues central to this relationship in the 1970s and early 1980s. She looks at the position of ethnic Germans living in the Soviet Union; the central role of Berlin; the triangular relationship among West Germany, the Soviet Union and East Germany; and the effects of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. In her concluding chapter, the author outlines the historic opening of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany and assesses the extent to which they represent a continuity in West German-Soviet relations.
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With the signing of the Moscow Treaty in 1970, West German-Soviet relations came to the forefront of world politics. Two decades later, the historic opening of the Berlin Wall and German reunification has once again focussed world attention on the Federal Republic's relations with the USSR. This timely book explores the development of this relationship from the perspective of West Germany. Dr Avril Pittman outlines the main events after the Second World War and then focusses on four issues central to this relationship in the 1970s and early 1980s. She explores family reunification and emigration rights for ethnic Germans living in the Soviet Union; the central role of Berlin and the reasons why the city persisted as a serious bilateral problem; the triangular relations between West Germany, the Soviet Union and East Germany; and the significance of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan with its ensuing sharp deterioration in East-West relations. In her concluding chapter, the author outlines recent events and assesses the extent to which they represent a continuity in West German-Soviet relations. This is the first book to examine the recent history of GermanSoviet political relations. It will therefore be widely read by students and specialists of Soviet and German studies, European history and politics as well as by diplomats and foreign correspondents. FROM OSTPOLITIK TO REUNIFICATION: WEST GERMAN-SOVIET POLITICAL RELATIONS SINCE 1974 Soviet and East European Studies: 85 Editorial Board Stephen White (General editor) Judy Batt Michael Kaser Anthony Kemp-Welch Margot Light Alastair McAuley James Riordan Judith Shapiro Soviet and East European Studies, under the auspices of Cam- bridge University Press and the British Association for Soviet, Slavonic and East European Studies (BASSEES), promotes the publication of works presenting substantial and original research on the economics, politics, sociology and modern history of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Soviet and East European Studies 85 AVRIL PITTMAN From Ostpolitik to reunification: West German-Soviet political relations since 1974 84 GEORGE O. LIBER Soviet nationality policy, urban growth and identity change in the Ukrainian SSR 1923-1934 83 CHRISTOPH BLUTH Soviet strategic arms policy before SALT 82 JOHN P. WILLERTON 81 JAMES HUGHES Patronage and politics in the USSR Stalin, Siberia and the crisis of the New Economic Policy 80 ILIANA ZLOCH-CHRISTY East-West financial relations Current problems and future prospects 79 MICHAEL D. KENNEDY Professionals, power and Solidarity in Poland A critical sociology of Soviet-type society 78 GARETH M. WINROW The foreign policy of the GDR in Africa 77 JOZEF M VAN BRABANT The planned economies and international economic organizations 76 WILLIAM MOSKOFF The bread of affliction: the food supply in the USSR during World War II 75 YAACOV R o ' l The struggle for Soviet Jewish emigration 1948-1967 74 GRAEME GILL