German Chancellor Willy Brandt goes down on his knees after laying a wreath in remembrance of the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (his gesture becomes known as the “Warsaw Genuflection”).
Bundesregierung / Photographer: Engelbert Reineke
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7 December 1970
The "Warsaw Genuflection"This gesture of humility by the German Chancellor Willy Brandt takes place immediately prior to the signing of the Warsaw Treaty between Poland and Germany in Warsaw. It is a symbolic act that wins him the 1971 Nobel Prize.24 January 1971
The first resettlers from the former eastern regions of Germany arrive in West Germany in accordance with the agreements contained in the Treaty of Warsaw.3 September 1971
Signing of the Four Power Agreement in the former premises of the Allied Control Council in BerlinIn the agreement, the representatives of the United States, Britain, France and the USSR agree to allow traffic to move unimpeded by road, rail and water between the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin. Moscow thereby accepts that West Berlin belongs to the Federal Republic of Germany.
Transit Agreement with the GDR is signedBundesarchiv, Bild 183-K1211-400, Photographer: Spremberg, Joachim17 December 1971
Signing of the Transit Agreement with East Germany. The agreement eases controls on the movement of people and goods between East and West Germany.
The Basic Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR is signedBundesarchiv, Bild 183-L1221-018, Photographer: Link, Hubert21 December 1972
The Basic Treaty between East and West Germany is signedIn the treaty the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR agree to “normal neighbourly relations with each other on the basis of equality”. There is still disagreement on the question of nationality since the Federal Republic of Germany does not recognise a special GDR citizenship.23 November 1973
Halt in recruitmentThe Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs issues a directive to the effect that the foreign services of the Federal Labour Office are to stop the placement of foreign workers in the Federal Republic of Germany.
German Chancellor Willy Brandt travels to the CSSR from 11 to 12 December 1973 to sign the last agreement in a series of treaties pertaining to Eastern Europe (the “Ostverträge”).Bundesregierung / Photographer: Lothar Schaack11 December 1973
Treaty of Prague signedThe German Chancellor Willy Brandt and the Czechoslovakian Prime Minister Lubomir Strougal sign the Treaty of Prague, which normalises mutual relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Czechoslovakia and thereby annuls the Munich Agreement of 1938.1 August 1974
East Germany's Council of Ministers decides on "the intake, support and integration of political émigrés from Chile in East Germany".With this action, the GDR government responds to Pinochet’s ousting of the socialist president Salvador Allende in the previous year.
Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German foreign minister (left) and the Polish foreign minister Stefan Olszowski sign agreements on pension and accident insurance, financial credit as well as a protocol about exiting the country.Bundesregierung / Photographer: Lothar Schaack9 October 1975
In Warsaw, the foreign ministers of Poland and West Germany sign agreements which enable the exit of 125,000 ethnic Germans from Poland.
The songwriter Wolf Biermann gives his opinion of his expatriation from the GDR at a press conference.Bundesregierung / Photographer: Lothar Schaack13 November 1976
Songwriter Wolf Biermann, who has been banned from performing in East Germany since 1965 performs a concert to over 10,000 people in Cologne.As a result Biermann is stripped of his East German citizenship three days later and refused re-entry.