Postwar German Reconciliation Policy Studies

In the field of international relationship,“reconciliation” refers to a processwhere two countries who distrusted, feared and hated each other due to historicaltraumas recover good relations through resolving conflicts by creative ways. Insuringpeace, disclosing the truth, seeking justice and settling down past conflicts, which arenecessary for reconciliation, constitute the significance of building a culture ofreconciliation. As a distinctive diplomatic mold, reconciliation diplomacy has been animportant way to seek national interests and improve countries' international image.After World War ??the Federal Republic of Germany set an example of performingof the mold for such two things.After the war, German's reconciliation diplomacy was conducted in theuncommon situation both home and abroad. Constructive force due to cold war, desirefor prosperity, peace and prestige, plus the strong sense of morality and justice amongGerman political elites like Konrad Adenauer and Willy Brandt, drove Germany to getrid of blind worship of military power and try to build good relations with Europeancountries based on democracy, peace, development and cooperation. For the purpose,German governments after the war, on one hand, deeply introspected its history andactively compensated victims of the war; on the other hand, it skillfully combinednational interests seeking and other comprehensive plans by adhering tomultilateralism. Therefore, Germany created a favorable political environment for itto return to European family. With70-year constant effort after the war, Germanfinally removed the deep-rooted hatred and distrust between it and France, eliminatedthe feud between it and counties in middle and east Europe like Poland, and builtpermanent formal relations with Israel. In the process of realizing reconciliation withthe three mentioned countries, there were four decisive factors which facilitated theresult: reasonable balance between historical issues and realistic interests, deepfriendship between political leaders, governments' negotiation mechanism helpful forremoving divergence, and non-government organizations building people's right viewof history. The cooperative effect of these factors finally generated the realreconciliation between Germany and its old enemies.However, the financial crisis in2008upset the balance of European geoeconomics which had been kept since the end of the cold war, so Germany, whichwas developing itself from an “economic power” into a “political power”, was soonunder the siege of other European countries suffering from the crisis. So the way itdeals with the relations with France would be German touchstone for its Europeanpolicy; meanwhile, the divergence between it and the US because of the Iraq War stillremained, and Ukraine crisis in2013deteriorated its relations with Russia. WhetherGermany can recover mutual trust with such the two powers will influence thestability of German diplomacy. In a word, for Germany, a country with the dream of“great power”, realizing reconciliation is bound to be of twists and turns, and it also isa test of wisdom and bravery for all Germans.