Book Reviews : British Politics in Transition 1945-63. By FRANCIS BOYD. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1964. Pp. 253. $5.00 cloth; $1.95 paper.)

• Published date: 01 December 1964
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296401700420
• Author: Richard W. Taylor
• Date: 01 December 1964
• Subject Matter: Articles

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within its 1937 boundaries. This contradiction has been a source of embarrassment
to the Western powers, including the Federal Republic. Germany’s claim to its 1937
boundaries is a direct threat to the national existence of Poland. This situation only
reinforces Polish dependency on the Soviet Union, which alone can guarantee Polish
possession of the disputed territories. This also helps to explain Poland’s cautious
enthusiasm for the German Democratic Republic, which has recognized Polish pos-
session of the lands. Poland thus supports the continuing division of Germany.
Bluhm’s conclusions follow logically upon his arguments. If the Western na-
tions are to assist the smaller countries of Eastern Europe in freeing themselves from
complete Soviet domination we must make it clear that our policies do not threaten
any of their vital interests. The Federal Republic must promise to respect Poland’s
paramountcy in the Oder-Neisse lands, he says, in order to diminish Poland opposi-
tion to reunification of the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic.
It is doubtful that the Federal Republic’s leaders can risk accepting Bluhm’s
arguments, however rational. The expellee and refugee organizations threaten re-
taliation at the polls against any political leader who acknowledges that recovery of
the Oder-Neisse lands is impossible under the present circumstances. Any German
political leader who hints that giving up the lost territories may be part of the price
that Germany must pay for Nazism and the lost war is immediately subjected to
fierce nationalistic attacks. (This problem is familiar to architects of American
foreign policy, whose efforts to negotiate settlements of international problems are
hampered by strident voices charging &dquo;appeasement.&dquo;) On May 13, 1964, Federal
Transport Minister Seebohm (Christian Democratic Union) spoke before the annual
gathering of the Sudeten Germans in Nurnberg. He went beyond the demand for
reunification within...