A CDU poster from 1980 referred to the "open German question," arguing that parts of Poland and the USSR which used to belong to Germany were still up for debate.
CDU opposition to the modern German-Polish border was very strong all the way up until reunification. Kohl had to be convinced to accept Oder-Neiße and wanted "reparations" from Poland for relocated Germans but the US and USSR refused. latimes.com/archives/la-xp…
After that, he still had wrangle his party to accept the border that was agreed upon after WWII. Spiegel reports here that he had to threaten to resign in order to convince parts of the CDU.
spiegel.de/panorama/helmu…
This mindset was common in West Germany all throughout the Cold War. An atlas from the 1960s describes areas east of Oder-Neisse as "under Polish administration," not as properly Polish.
This wasn't just the CDU, either. Willy Brandt famously accepted the Oder-Neisse line in 1970 as part of "Ostpolitik," but much of the SPD had opposed it before (poster from 1949).
On the other hand, the DDR accepted the Oder-Neisse border in 1950 (under significant Soviet pressure).
CDU has by far the best posters about this. This is from 1949, arguing for "an undivided fatherland."
And the classic, from 1947. "Never the Oder-Neiße line. Vote CDU."
And if you're really weird, you can get a rug to show that you agree with Adenauer and co. about what is "real" Germany society6.com/product/vintag…
Glad people found this interesting! If you want to hear more stuff like this about Germany (in English), I do a podcast called @spassbremse_pod
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.