WASHINGTON: Germans received news of the Ottawa declaration with jubilation, as removing all obstacles to German unity.
The Ottawa meeting of the two major power blocs decided among other things on a “four plus two”’ formula to smooth ties between namely the U.S., Soviet Union, Britain and France. The two are the two Germanys.
West Germany rejected Poland’s demand that it have a seat at the conference. Poland is worried because part of its present territory was part of Germany before the war. A West German official told the Washington Post, “The Poles are always telling us prey has a special role to play in German unity. But the same right could be claimed by Holland or Czechslovakia or our other neighbors. They all suffered from the German aggression in the last war. I don’t see any specific moral or political right for the Poles.”
The official added, however, that the Poles have nothing to fear because “the Poles have had their western borders guaranteed twice, by both East Germany and West Germany, in separate treaties. And by the way, the Poles never guaranteed their eastern border with Lithuania and the Soviet Union’
Article extracted from this publication >> February 23, 1990
