| Type | Border treaty |
|---|---|
| Signed | 14 November 1990 |
| Location | Warsaw,Poland |
| Effective | 16 January 1992 |
| Signatories | |
| Languages |
TheGerman–Polish Border Treaty of 1990[a] finally settled the issue of thePolish–German border, which in terms of international law had been pending since 1945. It was signed by the foreign ministers of Poland and Germany,Krzysztof Skubiszewski andHans-Dietrich Genscher, on 14 November 1990 inWarsaw, ratified by the PolishSejm on 26 November 1991 and the GermanBundestag on 16 December 1991, and entered into force with the exchange of the instruments of ratification on 16 January 1992.
In thePotsdam Agreement of 1945, the Allies of World War II had defined theOder–Neisse line as the line of demarcation between theSoviet occupation zone in Germany and Poland, pending the final determination of Poland's western frontier in a later peace settlement. This transferred extensive regions to Poland, some of which had been underGerman control for centuries, reducing Germany to approximately three quarters of the territory as of 1937. TheTreaty of Zgorzelec of 1950 betweenEast Germany and thePeople's Republic of Poland confirmed this border as final.West Germany, which saw itself as the only legal successor to theGerman Reich and did not recognize East Germany, insisted that final settlement on the Polish–German border could only be accepted by a future reunited Germany. Although West Germany, for all practical purposes, accepted the Oder–Neisse border in theTreaty of Warsaw (1970), its legal caveat that only a future peace treaty would formally settle the issue remained in effect.[3]
WithGerman reunification finally within reach in 1990, the Allies of World War II made full sovereignty for Germany conditional on the final recognition of the Oder–Neisse border, as stipulated in article 1.2 of theTreaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany.[4] The signing of a treaty between Germany and Poland recognizing the Oder–Neisse line as the border under international law was also one of the terms of theUnification Treaty between West and East Germany that was signed and went into effect on 3 October 1990. Poland also wanted this treaty to end the ambiguity that had surrounded the border issue since 1945.[citation needed]
Under the terms of the treaty, the contracting parties
The agreement was supplemented by aTreaty of Good Neighbourship and Friendly Cooperation, signed between Poland and Germany on 17 June 1991.
In the ratification process at the Bundestag, the treaty met with 13 dissenting votes by deputies of theCDU/CSU faction, among themErika Steinbach andPeter Ramsauer.[5] In 2006 the Polish Foreign MinisterAnna Fotyga, responding to the compensation claims raised by the "Prussian Trust" corporation, stated that the treaty was insufficient and may have to be renegotiated.[6]