Policy and War in the Post-War Balkans. Germany and the Greco-Yugoslavian Issue at the beginning of the 1950s*

Abstract

In November 1950, Marshal Tito gave his first interview to a German journalist referring, among other things, to German-Yugoslav foreign relations. In the interview he emphasised Yugoslavia’s willingness to strengthen the trade cooperation between the two nations, but also to restore it to prewar levels. Following the reconstitution of full diplomatic relations, Tito felt these prospects to be favourable. He assured the Germans that the Yugoslavs held no hard feelings towards them regarding the war, emphatically stating: “We do not hate any peoples, we hate only fascism”. Characterizing the German people as highly competent and diligent, he re-affirmed his support for a united Germany, deeming that the formation of two Germanies held dangers analogous to those of the Korean peninsula. Clearly, Tito’s views, stated above, started a new phase in bi-lateral relations. On the one hand, both sides sought a convergence in the fields of politics, economics and culture, and on the other, attempts were made to overcome the legacy of the past, of which the war was a part. The Bonn government included in this latter category the pressing issues concerning the German prisoners-of-war, the war criminals, and the ethnic-German minority in Yugoslavia.