Meilenstein in der Normalisierung zwischen Bonn und Budapest
Milestone in the Normalization of German-Hungarian Relations

Summary/Abstract: Except with Albania, the Federal Republic of Germany has now diplomatic relations with all socialist countries. Hungary was the last country with which relations were normalized. Although there had been no serious bilateral problems between the two countries, the Hungarian government delayed the resumption of relations longer than other countries in order to underline the harmony between its own and the Kremlin's foreign policy. Remembering the fate of the liberation struggle of 1956, Budapest avoided all steps (especially during the Prague Spring) which might have been interpreted as "deviation". Nevertheless, the German-Hungarian trade relations had improved rapidly after the exchange of trade missions (1963) and introduction of economic reforms in Hungary (1968), reaching in 1974 their high point of 1.9 billion German Marks. Until 1969 sharp propaganda campaigns had been directed by Budapest against the Federal Republic; it declined noticeably after the formation of the Brandt government. The foundations seem now to exist for a new and better relationship between the two countries.

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