18
future reunited Germany, and that if and when the two Germanies were reunited, the
question of the Polish-German border would have to be raised again.
38
This qualified
recognition of the post-war border continued to be a major irritant in Polish-West German
relations and the ‘Oder-Neisse line remained the only post-World War Two border whose
legal status remained provisional.’
39
In contrast to what past trends in Polish-German relations would lead us to expect,
with the end of the Cold War and the reunification of the two Germanies, the Polish-
German border dispute did not flare up. Instead, German-Polish relations came to
constitute the ‘hinge of an emerging ‘zone of stable peace’ in Mitteleuropa.’
40
By the
summer of 1989, the two states had worked out the basis of an agreement in which Poland
would take concrete steps to protect the rights of the German minority in Poland in return
for West German financial help. In November 1990, just over a month after the two
Germanies voted to reunite, Germany and Poland signed a treaty recognizing the
permanent nature of their Oder-Neisse border. The agreement in early 1991 to open their
borders resolved the issue of German emigration.
41
However, the decisive moment came
with the Treaty on Friendship and Neighborly Relations of June 1991. The Treaty
committed both parties to the peaceful resolution of disputes and pledged their mutual
support for co-operative security structures. It called for wide-ranging co-operation across
a range of issues, and institutionalised regular consultations at all levels. It also included a
commitment by Germany to support Poland’s entry into the EU.
42
While Kohl, motivated by domestic political concerns, did continue to deny the
legality and permanence of the Oder-Neisse border for a while, the 1991 Treaty and the
depth of institutionalized relations established between Poland and Germany afterwards
renders simplistic the explanation that Germany recognized the border only because it was
pressured by the 2 plus 4 agreement.
43
Rather, developments in 1990-91 demonstrated the
willingness of both sides to draw on the successful Franco-German model to
38
Ibid. p. 539.
39
Adrian Hyde-Price, ‘Building a Stable Peace in MittelEuropa: The German-Polish
Hinge,’ (University of Birmingham Institute for German Studies Discussion Paper
2000/18, 2000), p. 14.
40
Ibid., p. 2
41
Elliot, ‘Poland, Germany, and the End of the Cold War’.
42
Hyde-Price, ‘Building a Stable Peace’
43
John Dornberg, ‘The Oder-Neisse Border: Where German-Polish Prejudices Meet’
German Life, December 1996/ January 1997.
URL:http://www.germanlife.com/Archives/1996/9612_02.html
Convention