ABSTRACT
The unification of Germany was not just a highly significant historical event, it was also a process that was carefully documented from its very beginnings. The Hungarian communist reformers’ attitude towards the German question reflected both their emancipation from the Warsaw Pact and the history shared with Germany. In 1987, Hungary apologized for displacing Germans after the Second World War, and it chose not to demand reparations for German occupation. The Treaty of Good Neighbourship and Friendly Cooperation was signed on 17 June 1991 by a chancellor who for decades had never tired of referring to (West) Germany’s ‘reconciliation’ with Poland as a ‘legacy’ of Konrad Adenauer and as something personally dear to him. The ‘grand’ Two-plus-Four Agreement guaranteed members of certain minority groups in both countries equal rights, without Poles in Germany being recognized as a legal minority.
