Dealing With the Devil East Germany, Detente, and Ostpolitik, 1969-1973

Using new archival sources--including previously secret documents of the East German secret police and Communist Party--M. E. Sarotte goes behind the scenes of Cold War Germany during the era of detente, as East and West tried negotiation instead of confrontation to settle their differences. InDealing with the Devil, she explores the motives of the German Democratic Republic and its Soviet backers in responding to both the detente initiatives, or Ostpolitik, of West Germany and the foreign policy of the United States under President Nixon.Sarotte focuses on both public and secret contacts between the two halves of the German nation during Brandt's chancellorship, exposing the cynical artifices constructed by negotiators on both sides. Her analysis also details much of the superpower maneuvering in the era of detente, since German concerns were ever present in the minds of leaders in Washington and Moscow, and reveals the startling degree to which concern over China shaped European politics during this time. More generally,Dealing with the Devilpresents an illuminating case study of how the relationship between center and periphery functioned in the Cold War Soviet empire.Sarotte, M. E. is the author of 'Dealing With the Devil East Germany, Detente, and Ostpolitik, 1969-1973', published 2001 under ISBN 9780807849156 and ISBN 0807849154.