Marc Dierikx and Sacha Zala
Als die Mauer fiel. Die Wahrnehmung der deutschen Wiedervereinigung in internationalen diplomatischen Dokumenten 1989–1990
After months of crisis, the government of the German Democratic Republic suddenly announced on 9 November 1989 that it opened up the border crossings for travel to West Berlin forthwith. Even diplomats, proficiently well-informed, had not seen this coming. Reactions by foreign envoys expressed concerns, warning of a ‹specter of German reunification› that might upset the stability in Europe. Promoted by the West German government in Bonn, reunification became the keyword for all subsequent developments. Suddenly, agreements signed in 1945 took on a new immediacy.
Yet four decades after the end of the war, the right of the German people to self-determination was beyond dispute. The rapid pace of developments presented challenges to foreign and German diplomats alike. This article compiles a selection of reactions and reports and embeds them in the context of the fall of the wall.
Marc Dierikx *1957, Dr. phil., Historiker, Senior Researcher am Huygens Institut der Königlichen niederländischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (KNAW) in Amsterdam.
Sacha Zala, *1968, Dr. phil., Historiker, Direktor der Forschungsstelle Diplomatische Dokumente der Schweiz und Professor an der Universität Bern.
Permalink: dodis.ch/saggi/2-2
DOI https://doi.org/10.22017/S-2020-2
ISSN: 2571-6964
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0).
