In the 1970s, West German Chancellor
Willy Brandt's
Ostpolitik was a policy that "abandoned, at least for the time being, its claims with respect to German
self-determination and reunification, recognising de facto the existence of the
German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the
Oder–Neisse line". Both sides expressed their ambition to strive for a normalisation of the relations between the European states while they kept international peace and to follow the guidelines of the Article 2 of the
UN Charter. The signees renounced the use of force and recognised the postwar borders, specifically, the
Oder–Neisse line, which hived off a large portion of
historical eastern Germany to
Poland and the Soviet Union. It also enshrined the division between
East Germany and West Germany, thus contributing a valuable element of stability into the relationship between the two countries. ==See also==