Documents on the Foreign Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany 1983

Sep 12, 2014

Documents on the Foreign Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany 1983
Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1983
Edition commissioned by the Federal Foreign Office, edited by the Institute of Contemporary History Munich – Berlin

General editor: Horst Möller, Co-editors: Gregor Schöllgen and Andreas Wirsching.
Editorial staff: Tim Geiger, Matthias Peter and Mechthild Lindemann.
Editorial director: Ilse Dorothee Pautsch.
Munich 2014, 2 vols, 2105 pages, ISBN 978-3-486-74707-2

The Year the Missiles Were Deployed
The year 1983 is regarded as one of the most tense of the Cold War. Despite extensive efforts during the INF negotiations in Geneva and heavy protests of the peace movement, the Pershing missiles were nevertheless deployed in autumn. 397 documents published here for the first time show how the German Federal Government did its best to continue the East/West dialogue and the process of European unification against a background of increased block confrontation which for example even manifested itself in the shooting down of a South Korean passenger aircraft by the USSR. The conclusion of the CSCE follow-up meeting in Madrid, the continuation of special relations with the GDR as well as the Solemn Declaration of the European Union were results of this political approach.