In the negotiations on a
coalition government of SPD and FDP following the
1976 elections, it took Genscher 73 days to reach agreement with
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. As
Foreign Minister, Genscher stood for a policy of compromise between East and West, and developed strategies for an active policy of
détente and the continuation of the East–West dialogue with the USSR. He was widely regarded a strong advocate of negotiated settlements to international problems. As a popular story on Genscher's preferred method of
shuttle diplomacy has it, "two
Lufthansa jets crossed over the Atlantic, and Genscher was on both". and Genscher (21 November 1989) Genscher was a major player in the negotiations on the text of the
Helsinki Accords. In December 1976, the
General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City accepted Genscher's proposal of an anti-terrorism convention in New York, which was set among other things, to respond to demands from hostage-takers under any circumstances. Genscher was one of the FDP's driving forces when, in 1982, the party switched sides from its coalition with the SPD to support the
CDU/
CSU in their
Constructive vote of no confidence to have incumbent
Helmut Schmidt replaced with opposition leader
Helmut Kohl as Chancellor. The reason for this was the increase in the differences between the coalition partners, particularly in economic and social policy. The switch was controversial, not least in his own party. At several points in his tenure, he irritated the governments of the United States and other allies of Germany by appearing not to support Western initiatives fully. "During the Cold War, his penchant to seek the middle ground at times exasperated United States policy-makers who wanted a more decisive, less equivocal Germany", according to Tyler Marshall. Genscher's perceived quasi-neutralism was dubbed
Genscherism. In 1984, Genscher became the first Western foreign minister to visit
Tehran since the
Iranian Revolution of 1979. In 1988, he appointed Jürgen Hellner as West Germany's new ambassador to Libya, a post that had been vacant since the
1986 Berlin discotheque bombing, a tragedy which U.S. officials blamed on the government of
Muammar Gaddafi. Genscher's proposals frequently set the tone and direction of foreign affairs among Western Europe's democracies. circulating a memorandum to that effect. Genscher retained his posts as foreign minister and vice chancellor through German reunification and until 1992 when he stepped down for health reasons.
Reunification efforts Genscher is most respected for his efforts that helped spell the end of the
Cold War, in the late 1980s when Communist eastern European governments toppled, and which led to
German reunification. During his time in office, he focused on maintaining stability and balance between the West and the Soviet bloc. From the beginning, he argued that the West should seek cooperation with Communist governments rather than treat them as implacably hostile; this policy was embraced by many Germans and other Europeans. When thousands of East Germans sought refuge in West German embassies in
Czechoslovakia and Poland, Genscher held discussions on the refugee crisis at the United Nations in New York with the foreign ministers of Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1989. Genscher's 30 September 1989 speech from the balcony of the
German embassy in Prague was an important milestone on the road to the end of the
GDR. In the embassy courtyard thousands of East German citizens had assembled. They were trying to travel to West Germany, but were being denied permission to travel by the Czechoslovak government at the request of East Germany. He announced that he had reached an agreement with the Communist Czechoslovak government that the refugees could leave: "We have come to you to tell you that today, your departure ..." (German: "Wir sind zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass heute Ihre Ausreise ..."). After these words, the speech was drowned in cheers. With his fellow foreign ministers
James Baker of the United States and
Eduard Shevardnadze of the Soviet Union, Genscher is widely credited with securing Germany's subsequent peaceful unification and the withdrawal of Soviet forces. He negotiated the German reunification in 1990 with his counterpart from the GDR,
Markus Meckel. On 12 September 1990 he signed the
Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany on behalf of West Germany. In November 1990, Genscher and his Polish counterpart
Krzysztof Skubiszewski signed the
German-Polish Border Treaty on the establishment of the
Oder–Neisse line as Poland's western border. Meanwhile, he strongly endorsed the plans of the Bush Administration to assure continued U.S. influence in a post-Cold War Europe.
Post-reunification In 1991, Genscher successfully pushed for Germany's recognition of the
Republic of Croatia in the
Croatian War of Independence shortly after JNA entered
Vukovar. After Croatia and
Slovenia had declared independence, Genscher concluded that Yugoslavia could not be held together, and that republics that wanted to break from the Serbian-dominated federation deserved quick
diplomatic recognition. He hoped that such recognition would stop the fighting. The
UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar had warned the German Government that a recognition of Slovenia and Croatia would lead to an increase in aggression in the former Yugoslavia. At a meeting of the
European Community's foreign ministers in 1991, Genscher proposed to press for a
war crimes trial for President
Saddam Hussein of Iraq, accusing him of
aggression against Kuwait, using
chemical weapons against civilians and condoning
genocide against the
Kurds. During the
Gulf War, Genscher sought to deal with Iraq after other Western leaders had decided to go to war to force it out of Kuwait. Germany made a substantial financial contribution to the allied cause but, citing constitutional restrictions on the use of its armed forces, provided almost no military assistance. When, in the aftermath of the war, a far-reaching political debate broke out over how Germany should fulfill its global responsibilities, Genscher responded that if foreign powers expect Germany to assume greater responsibility in the world, they should give it a chance to express its views "more strongly" in the
United Nations Security Council. In 1992, Genscher, together with his Danish colleague
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, took the initiative to create the
Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and the
EuroFaculty. More than half a century after Nazi leaders assembled their infamous exhibition "Degenerate Art", a sweeping condemnation of the work of the avant-garde, Genscher opened a re-creation of the show at the
Altes Museum in March 1992, describing Nazi attempts to restrict artistic expression as "a step toward the catastrophe that produced the mass murder of European Jews and the war of extermination against Germany's neighbors." "The paintings in this exhibition have survived oppression and censorship", he asserted in his opening remarks. "They are not only a monument but also a sign of hope. They stand for the triumph of creative freedom over barbarism." On 18 May 1992, Genscher retired at his own request from the federal government, which he had been member of for a total of 23 years. At the time, he was the world's longest-serving foreign minister and Germany's most popular politician. He had announced his decision three weeks earlier, on 27 April 1992. Genscher did not specify his reasons for quitting; however, he had suffered two heart attacks by that time. His resignation took effect in May, but he remained a member of parliament and continued to be influential in the Free Democratic Party. == Activities after politics ==