During the Cold War, socialist Yugoslavia, of which Croatia was a member republic, enjoyed good relations with both West and East Germany.

Hundreds of thousands of Croatian people migrated to West Germany as Gastarbeiter, and German tourists began visiting Croatia's Adriatic coast in large numbers.

During 1942 and 1943 even more soldiers arrived from Germany because of an increase number of attacks on the Nazis by the Yugoslav partisans who were led by Josip Broz Tito.

Germany played an important role in 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence in the fight for recognition of newly formed Republic of Croatia in order to stop ongoing violence in Serb-inhabited areas.

Germany was criticized, mostly by United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands, that its rapid recognition of Croatia would aggravate finding peace settlement.

On 10 October 1991, two days after the Croatian Parliament confirmed the declaration of independence, the EEC decided to postpone any decision to recognize Croatia for two months.

German foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher later wrote that the EEC decided to recognize Croatian independence in two months if the war had not ended by then.

Ultimately, France and the UK backed down during the Security Council debate on the matter on 14 December, when Germany appeared determined to defy the UN resolution.

On 17 December 1991 the EEC formally agreed to grant Croatia diplomatic recognition on 15 January 1992 on the basis of its request and a positive opinion of the Badinter Arbitration Commission.