Talks on German Unity Will Include Poland in Discussions of Border

The four World War II Allies and the two Germanys, ending their first session of talks on German unity, said today that they have agreed to include Poland in their discussions when they deal with the Polish border.

Dieter Kastrup, head of the West German delegation, said the group--the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, France and East and West Germany--discussed procedural issues and had a first exchange of views on an agenda for future talks.

Kastrup did not say how Polish representatives will participate in the talks among the two Germanys and the World War II allies.

The decision was a triumph for Warsaw, which launched a diplomatic drive for a say at the talks when West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl tried to keep open the border issue and to force Poland to swear off postwar reparations claims.

Kohl has pledged to support a treaty fixing the border.

“The participants agreed Poland will be invited as soon as questions are discussed . . . that especially affect its borders,” Kastrup, a senior official of the West German Foreign Ministry, told journalists after the daylong meeting.

Almost one-third of Polish territory is former German land handed over to Warsaw after the war to compensate for Polish territory seized to the east by Moscow.

The border issue blew up this month when Kohl, increasingly assertive as Germany nears unity, tried to pressure Poland to please right-wing voters eager to reclaim that land.

The attempt sparked protests abroad and aroused fears that the new Germany, a superstate of 78 million people, would throw its weight around like its historic predecessors.

Kastrup said delegations at these talks, held at a round table with the two Germanys sitting side by side, discussed procedural issues about the talks due to last several months.

The discussions, dubbed the “two-plus-four” talks, are aimed at agreements on whether a united Germany is neutral or in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, where its borders will be and what Berlin’s status will be.

“They also had an initial exchange of ideas on about which topics are to be handled on the agenda of future sessions,” Kastrup said.

Foreign Ministry officials will meet again in East Berlin soon after East Germany’s first free elections Sunday, and alternate between Bonn and East Berlin thereafter.