Former Eastern Territories of Germany - Post World War II

Post World War II

Between 1945 and 1990, the dispute over the final disposition of these territories was the subject of international debate.

The government of West Germany preferred to use the phrase "former German territories temporarily under Polish and Soviet administration" (Note: those "former German territories" are those of Eastern Germany within the 1937 Germany Border). This was the wording used in the Potsdam Agreement, but was used only by the Federal Republic of Germany because the Polish and Soviet governments refused to use it, objecting to the obvious implication that these territories should someday revert to Germany.

The Polish government preferred to use the phrase Recovered Territories, asserting a sort of continuity because these territories had once been ruled by ethnic Poles half a millennium before World War II and had been "recovered" from Nazi Germany after 1945.

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