RFN – NRD – PRL (1950-1972). Normalizacja polsko-niemiecka jako „ménage à trois”
FRG – GDR – PPL (1950-1972). Polish-German Normalization as a “ménage à trois”

Summary/Abstract: In the article the author suggests a change of perspective in the analysis of the process of normalization of Polish-German relations after the Second World War: he presents the benefits of viewing those relations as a triangle with its own dynamics, based on the sociological concept of the „triad” first formulated by Georg Simmel and later applied to political sciences with reference to international relations by Theodore Caplow, among others. Such a trilateral view allows for a more precise understanding of normalization as a change of norms in the difficult Polish-German relations. What is more, interrelations between the FRG-GDR relations and Poland’s relations with both of the German states open the possibility to treat the normalization process as a single issue that can be subjected to periodization in order to bring out clearly various mutual dependencies.

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