The agreement was signed by Otto Grotewohl, prime minister of the provisional government of the GDR (East Germany) and Polish premier Józef Cyrankiewicz.

So although the treaty was binding on Poland and East Germany, for several decades it was not seen by many western members of the international community as such.

[1] The West German government continued to maintain that the status of the territories east of the Oder-Neisse line were "under Polish and Soviet administration" until in 1970 Chancellor Willy Brandt signed the Treaty of Warsaw, giving de facto acknowledgement of the border and confirming West Germany's acceptance of the Treaty of Zgorzelec as an international agreement binding on the states that were party to it.

[citation needed] The community centre in which the treaty was signed is one of Zgorzelec's main sights and is found in a park beside the road bridge border crossing.

Built in typical Wilhelmine style, it was originally opened as the Upper Lusatian Memorial Hall (Oberlausitzer Gedenkhalle [de]), and has been known as the Municipal House of Culture in Zgorzelec (Miejski Dom Kultury w Zgorzelcu [pl]) since 1975.