The relations between the two states and societies have been rather complex during both the previous half-century and beyond. Embedded in changing political landscapes, the ramifications reach back to the early 19th century. Yet the uniqueness of the relationship network only shows in light of the wholesale murder of Jews in Europe, the creation of the State of Israel, the discussions surrounding the initiation of diplomatic relations and their arrangement until the present day. The development and intensity of the relations with regard to civil society and politics are quite astonishing when considering the beginnings. Approaches, changes and the in part greatly-varying perceptions of the other side can be observed over the course of 50 years of history, and these give rise to questions concerning the current state of the relationship and its future design.

In 1952 the Federal Republic of Germany concluded a treaty with Israel in terms of which the Germans were to pay three billion Deutschmarks in compensation for the murder of Jews by Hitler's regime during the Second World War. This was an extremely large sum at that time considering that Germany was still recovering from the war, but the Israelis felt that Germany owed Israel a financial as well as a moral debt and thus expected further aid and protection. In the early 1960s a secret arms agreement was reached whereby Germany delivered quantities of weapons to Israel, which felt threatened by its Arab neighbours. This was followed by more economic aid. There was enthusiastic moral support by the German public during the Six-Day War and in 1973 Germany was one of the few European countries to allow American weapons to be sent from its territory to Israel, then engaged in the Yom Kippur War. The political status of West Germany gradually increased, however, and this caused it to give greater emphasis to its own national interest. The result was a cooling in the relationship between the two countries. This book examines the reasons that motivated Germany to grant aid to Israel and the change in their relations as the German economy flourished and gained influence in world affairs.

Abstract: The 12th of May 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration of diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Israel. While Germany's genocide of the European Jews means that these will never be normal relations, the anniversary sees leading representatives of both countries lauding the almost miraculous bond of trust and close web of contacts that have grown between them. And indeed, with no other country in the Middle East is Germany so closely associated. Nevertheless, reconciliation has remained largely a project of the elites, and the two societies are currently growing apart rather than together. Also, differences over a two-state settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are casting a heavy shadow over the relationship. Germany's political elite and society should therefore take the anniversary as an occasion to reflect on the meaning of Germany's historical responsibility and the implications for its policy towards Israel. (Au

The rapprochement between Germany and Israel in the aftermath of the Holocaust is one of the most striking political developments of the twentieth century. German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently referred to it as a ‘miracle’. But how did this ‘miracle’ come about? In this book, Lorena De Vita traces the contradictions and dilemmas that shaped the making of German–Israeli relations at the outset of the global Cold War. Examining well known events like the Suez Crisis, the Eichmann Trial, and the Six-Day War, the book adopts a ‘pericentric’ perspective on the Cold War era, drawing attention to the actions and experiences of minor players within the confrontation and highlighting the consequences of their political calculations. Israelpolitik takes two of the most interesting dimensions of the Cold War – the German problem and the Middle East conflict – and weaves them together, providing a bipolar history of German-Israeli relations in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Drawing upon sources from both sides of the Iron Curtain and of the Arab–Israeli conflict, the book offers new insights not only into the early history of German–Israeli relations, but also into the dynamics of the Cold War competition between the two German states, as each attempted to strengthen its position in the Middle East and in the international arena while struggling with the legacy of the Nazi past.