Am 9. Juni 1970 bilanziert Carl Werner Sanne, Vortragender Legationsrat im Bundeskanzleramt, ein Gespräch zwischen Egon Bahr, Staatssekretär im Bundeskanzleramt, und Józef Winiewicz, Stellvertretender Außenminister Polens, über die Grenzformel in einem bilateralen Vertrag.

On 19 November 1970, the Bonn Government sends notes to the US, French and British ambassadors, relating to the Germano-Polish Treaty and to the country’s new Ostpolitik. This is the text of the note sent to the French ambassador.

On 19 November 1970, the US, French and British ambassadors reply jointly to the informative note relating to the Germano-Polish Treaty, sent to them on that same day by the Bonn Government.

On 7 December 1970, in Warsaw, the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland sign a treaty in which the two States recognise each other diplomatically and acknowledge the inviolability of borders established following the 1945 Potsdam Conference by abandoning all territorial claims.

On 7 December 1970, in a televised address broadcast in Warsaw by the West German channels, Chancellor Willy Brandt emphasises the importance of the treaty concluded that same day between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and Poland.

On 7 December 1970, in a television address broadcast from Warsaw, Willy Brandt, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), emphasises the symbolic importance for peace in Europe of his visit to Poland and of the signing, the same day, of the Treaty between the FRG and Poland, through which the two countries recognise, in particular, the inviolability of the existing frontiers.

On 7 December 1970, Józef Cyrankiewicz, President of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland, welcomes the signing, that day in Warsaw, of the Treaty which lays the foundations for the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).

On 7 December 1970, German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, and Walter Scheel, German Foreign Minister, go on an official visit to Warsaw and stand in silent rememberance at the foot of a monument erected in memory of the unknown soldier.

In his memoirs, the former German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, recalls the signature of the German-Polish treaty, on 7 December 1970 in Warsaw, under which both countries recognised, in particular, the inviolability of existing common borders. He also remembers the symbolic importance of his kneeling before the memorial dedicated to the victims from Warsaw's Jewish ghetto.

In 1970, Walter Scheel, Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), outlines the importance of clarifying the border issue between West Germany and Poland for their future bilateral relations.

On 8 December 1970, the German daily newspaper the Süddeutsche Zeitung comments on the signing in Warsaw the previous day of the Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland and emphasises its significance for peace in Europe.

On 8 December 1970, the day after the signing in Warsaw of the Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and Poland, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung comments on Willy Brandt’s genuflection before the monument erected in memory of those who perished in the city’s Jewish ghetto.

‘Signature of the year.’ On 8 December 1970, the German cartoonist Köhler portrays the Federal Republic of Germany's recognition of the new western boundaries of Poland along the ‘Oder-Neisse' line.

In this interview, Egon Bahr, former Junior Minister to the German Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt, discusses the implications of the negotiations leading to the signing of the Warsaw Treaty on 7 December 1970 between the FRG and Poland, and lays particular stress on the question of the Oder-Neisse Line.