Drawing the Line at Oder-Neisse

Europe and the Soviet Union may be reconciled to the inevitability of a united Germany, but that’s not the same as being at ease with the prospect.

One major concern remains the boundaries of a unitary German state. The post-World War II Potsdam Conference of the Allied powers fixed Germany’s eastern frontier with Poland as the line formed by the Oder and West Neisse rivers. That effectively transferred a lot of formerly German territory to Poland and a small area to the Soviet Union. Some Germans continue to claim these “lost” lands. There’s a clear and vital need for West Germany to renounce all such claims.

West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher this week tried to assure Europeans that Germany would not seek to expand beyond its current borders. Former Chancellor Willy Brandt said much the same thing. But Genscher is a member of the Free Democrats, the minority partner in Bonn’s coalition government, and Brandt is an elder statesman of the opposition Social Democrats. What’s urgently needed is for Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the Christian Democratic leader, to firmly renounce any future German claims to pre-World War II lands.

Kohl has equivocated, saying he can’t talk about borders before reunification. Some Germans say his real aim is to avoid alienating far-right voters in an election year. But this issue far transcends West Germany’s domestic politics. Boundary disputes are historically the stuff of international tension, hostility and war. Responsible German leaders recognize the seriousness of European concerns. Kohl ought quickly to do so as well.