Durch den eisernen Vorhang

The existing literature on the twin topics addressed in Gottfried Niedhart’s new study—détente in Europe in general and West German Ostpolitik in particular—is not exactly scarce. Numerous scholars have made insightful contributions in this area during the past few decades, and additional works continue to emerge at a steady clip. The period of Willy Brandt’s tenure as chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany between 1969 and 1974, on which Niedhart focuses most of his attention, is particularly well covered terrain. Why, then, should one pay attention to Niedhart’s book? What does he add to this rather crowded field of scholarship? To answer these questions, it is first necessary to outline the boundaries and limitations of Niedhart’s study. Although it is based on serious and far-ranging research in archival and published primary sources drawn from multiple countries on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the book does not offer new

Art · German History and Society · Philosophy