West Germany's Policy of Overcoming Division: The Dialectic of Division and Unity 1949-1990

Through this study, the author examines how the policy of overcoming division was developed in the Federal Republic of Germany, that is, West Germany. I view this development process as a dialectical evolution between division and integration. To this end, I broadly examined the periods of Chancellors Konrad Adenauer, Willy Brandt, and Helmut Cole. In particular, when considering the relationship between West Germany and East Germany as a relationship between ‘self and other’, I focused on the ideological perspectives from which these three governments promoted the establishment of this relationship. German unification was possible because the German people did their best to solve the problems of their divided nation with appropriate values and will to implement them in an environment of European efforts to overcome nationalism and achieve European integration. This idea of European integration and German unification had in common the reflection on the Nazi era and a vision for a new future. This modern history of Germany and Europe has great implications for Korea and East Asia.