The Treaty of Moscow (1970): Germany’s earliest recognition of the inviolability of the frontier on the Odra and Nysa Łużycka Rivers (Oder-Neisse)

Signed five decades ago, on August 12, 1970 in Moscow, the Treaty on mutual relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union carried a number of provisions of essential importance for Poland. The Treaty contained not only an article on the renunciation of the use of force in mutual relations and the signatories’ commitment to regard the frontiers of all States in Europe as inviolable. The contracting parties also reaffirmed they had no territorial claims against any state and would not assert any such claims in the future. They assured they regarded the borders of all signatory states inviolable now and in the future - the “Oder-Neisse line, which forms the western frontier of the People’s Republic of Poland” and the frontier between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic were specifically mentioned. However, Władysław Gomułka, who at the time led the Polish United Workers’ Party, announced that Poland could by no means be satisfied with this solution. Even the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party could not help noticing distressing parallels with the German-Soviet pact that had demarcated Poland’s borders. Owing to his persistence, the People’s Republic of Poland concluded a separate pact with West Germany on December 7, 1970.