This book investigates how the Federal Republic of Germany navigated the dual challenges of domestic integration of millions of expellees and the complex re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Eastern Europe during the Cold War. Author Pertti Ahonen, a scholar of modern European history, utilizes extensive archival research to examine the intersection of post-war migration and foreign policy. He argues that the presence of these expellees acted as a significant, often overlooked, catalyst in shaping West German political identity and its diplomatic approach toward the Eastern Bloc until reunification in 1990.

Historians and political scientists frequently cite this work as a definitive study on the intersection of migration and diplomacy in post-war Germany. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a comprehensive and rigorous examination of a complex historical period.