Ostpolitik

American  

[awst-paw-li-teek] / ˈɔst pɔ lɪˌtik /

noun

1. the German policy toward the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, especially the expansionist views of Hitler in the 1930s and the normalization program of the West German government in the 1960s and 1970s.

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Etymology

Origin of Ostpolitik

1960–65; < German: literally Eastern policy

Example Sentences

They had convinced themselves that West German “Ostpolitik” or, loosely, détente, toward Moscow, had been the key to winning the Cold War and achieving reunification.

From New York Times

Wandel durch Handel was in many ways an extension of West Germany’s Cold War Ostpolitik, a policy of rapprochement with Russia put in place by the Social Democratic government at the end of the 1960s, amid fears of nuclear war.

From New York Times

Criticism of Germany in Poland goes back at least to the Nazi era, and then to Germany’s policy of Ostpolitik, its Cold War effort at rapprochement with Moscow and the countries of Eastern and Central Europe occupied by the Soviet Union.

From New York Times

Economic engagement would also help avoid a confrontation and foster political rapprochement, the parties said, referring to the so-called Ostpolitik policy of opening up to the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

From Reuters

Francis’ decision to continue with the “classic Vatican diplomacy of Ostpolitik, of dialoguing with the enemy and not closing the door, is debatable,” said the Rev. Stefano Caprio, professor of church history at the Pontifical Oriental Institute.

From Seattle Times