1988: A Year of Rapprochement

Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
[Documents on the Foreign Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany]

1988

Editing work by Michael Ploetz, Matthias Peter and Jens Jost Hofmann. Senior Editor: Ilse Dorothee Pautsch

Commissioned by the Federal Foreign Office, edited by the Institute for Contemporary History
General Editor: Andreas Wirsching; Co-Editors: Hélène Miard-Delacroix and Gregor Schöllgen

1988 was a year of rapprochement and dissolution. While eroding internally, Eastern Block states sought closer ties to West Germany. Helmut Kohl’s visit to Moscow marked the high point of Bonn’s policy of détente. Efforts to obtain the release of German hostages in Lebanon required close contact to the Syrian and Iraqi regimes. Additional fields of diplomatic activity included problems related to excess debt, deliberations concerning a cohesive security strategy for NATO, and the expansion of German-French relations. Various domestic events also garnered international attention, including the resignation of Bundestag President Jenninger.