Jedność Niemiec czy Europy? Powojenne dylematy polityki zagranicznej Republiki Federalnej Niemiec

Abstrakt

The article takes up problems of the German identity and dilemmas related to determining the country’s place on the political map of Europe. It reveals a dissonance which raised on the German political scene in the matter of taking a priority: either the united Germany but at the cost of neutralization on the international arena, or the (West) Germany related to Euro-Atlantic and West European structures, but at the cost of the state division. It gave rise to a specific polarization on the political scene of the western occupation sectors, later the Federal Republic of Germany. The SPD with Kurt Schumacher adhered to the first option, and the CDU with Conrad Adenauer to the other one (a profile of the first Chancellor of Germany was wider presented). The victory of the first option settled the question of the FRG’s participation in forming the background for the united Europe and in bringing into being the first of the European Communities: the European Coal and Steel Community and trials to create the European Community of Defense. The article also presents how West Europe perceived Germany in the first years of the state division.