ABSTRACT
The assumption presumably was that East Germany, and Eastern Europe in general, were too closely bound to the Soviet policy line for any meaningful differentiation of policy preferences. There have been numerous analyses of the German problem in the Western sense but only recently has attention been directed toward its implications for East Germany and the possible repercussions within Eastern Europe. West Germany’s pursuit of its so-called Hallstein Doctrine, threatening sanctions against any state granting diplomatic recognition to the DDR, effectively isolated East Germany from the mainstream of international politics, foreclosing recognition by all but its socialist allies. For East Germany, however, unlike its western counterpart, recognition has never been a foregone conclusion. In fact, for the first twenty years following the establishment of two German states in 1949, the separate existence of East Germany was officially ignored by the West.
