The Stalin Note (; ; ), also known as the March Note or Peace Note (, mirnaya nota), was a diplomatic note delivered to the representatives of the Western Allies (the United Kingdom, France, and the United States) from the Soviet Union in separated Germany including the two countries in West and East on 10 March 1952. Soviet general secretary and premier Joseph Stalin put forth a proposal for a German reunification and neutralisation with no conditions on economic policies and with guarantees for "the rights of man and basic freedoms, including freedom of speech, press, religious persuasion, political conviction, and assembly" and free activity of democratic parties and organizations.
Conservative CDU/CSU West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the Western Allies characterized Stalin's offer of reintegration as an aggressive action that attempted to stall the reintegration of West Germany. The readmission of 18.5 million eastern German citizens in the GDR to the voter rolls would have pulled West Germany's 51 million citizens leftward politically. There was debate on whether a legitimate chance for reunification had been missed; six years after the exchange, two West German ministers, Thomas Dehler and Gustav Heinemann, blamed Adenauer for not having explored the chance of reunification.
There is ongoing debate over the sincerity of the note, though declassified documents from the former Soviet archives indicate that there was an intention to incorporate the German Democratic Republic into the Eastern bloc and to blame the division of Germany on the Western occupying powers.
Background
After the Second World War ended, Germany was divided into what became eventually a Western Zone and an Eastern Zone. By 1949, Germany had a parliamentary democracy in the West, called the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, commonly "West Germany"), and a communist state in the East, called the German Democratic Republic (GDR, commonly "East Germany"). Opportunities to reunify both halves appeared unlikely from the Western standpoint. The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) feared losing power if free elections were held. Germany had still not signed a peace treaty for the war because of animosity between the three Western Powers and the Soviet Union. The peace treaty with Germany, the Two Plus Four Agreement, was signed only in 1990.
In early 1950, the United States began negotiations for a peace treaty with Japan, which granted long-term US military bases in Japan. The Korean War (1950–1953) surprised the US and contributed to deteriorated relations between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
In discussions on reunification, East Germany stressed the importance of a peace treaty, while West Germany focused on the importance of free elections for all of Germany. West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer did not believe that reunification was possible under the given conditions. He and his administration pursued a course that allied West Germany with the Western Bloc, particularly in relationship to military policy. Specifically, Adenauer felt that West Germany should maintain an army, which could be integrated into a larger West European military force. The European Defence Community Treaty was signed in May 1952, after the rejection of the Stalin Note, but the proposed European Defence Community never came into being because the treaty was rejected by the French National Assembly.
Stalin and East Germany condemned the treaty, although East Germany had created a pseudo-military force called the Kasernierte Volkspolizei. The Stalin Notes could be seen as a way to draw out the East German propaganda efforts so that reunification would fail.
On 15 September 1951, East Germany offered to discuss holding elections at a meeting with West Germany. However, West Germany refused to hold talks with the SED because that would have meant the actual recognition of East Germany as an equal country. Contact was always maintained through the Western Powers. Instead, West Germany wanted a commission of the United Nations to see if free all-German elections were possible.
The endeavours of the Western Powers made the commission meet in December 1951. East Germany refused to let it enter, however, and stated that the possibility of free elections should be investigated by a commission of the four occupying powers.
First Stalin Note At a conference in Paris, the SED emphasised the importance of the two German states discussing a potential peace treaty. The Soviet leaders also encouraged the discussion of a peace treaty with the Western Powers because they were afraid of the push for the integration of the West German armed forces into a larger Western coalition.
East Germany appealed to the four powers to allow for negotiations of the peace treaty for Germany. After about two months, in August 1951, Stalin presented his first draft of the plan for a peace treaty. After working through numerous corrections and basic conceptual changes, the final version was ready seven months later.
On 10 March 1952, Andrei Gromyko gave a diplomatic note about the solution of the "German problem" to representatives of the three western occupiers (the United States, the United Kingdom and France) and called for a four-power conference. The note included the following points:
A peace treaty with all participants in the war with Germany should be negotiated with a single united German government. The Allies must agree on its formation. Germany would be re-established as a united state within the boundaries established by the provisions of the Potsdam Conference. All occupation forces would be withdrawn within one year of the date that treaty came into effect. Germany would have democratic rights, such as having freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, and freedom to have a multi-party system, including for former members of the Nazi Party in the German armed forces, except for those under criminal prosecution. Germany would become officially neutral and not enter any kind of coalition or military alliance directed against any of the countries whose military forces had participated in the war against it. Germany would have access to world markets without restrictions. Germany could have its own national armed forces to defend it and also manufacture munitions for those forces.
West German reaction
West Germany's priorities were different from East Germany's. Chancellor Adenauer considered his main priority to be the integration of West Germany into the West, and he saw reunification as a rather abstract goal. Specifically, his administration wanted to focus on the re-establishment of Germany into a capitalist Europe, and he felt that reunification was not possible until West Germany was securely established in Western Europe. He even believed that reunification could happen only at the same time as a radical change in Eastern Europe. If the integration of West Germany into the Western Alliance could not be managed, West Germany would come under the influence of the Soviet Union.
He felt that Germany alone would not be able to afford an army that could provide for the security of a neutral Germany. Thus, he assumed that two German states would co-exist for an indeterminate amount of time and he followed that goal in the background. For those reasons, Adenauer saw the note as an annoyance and wanted to continue proceedings with the Western Powers as if the note had not existed.
Adenauer's view that Stalin's offer was not serious was widely shared. However, there were other views about how to react to the offer. The Minister of All-German Affairs, Jakob Kaiser, had a "bridge theory" which suggested that Germany could be the mediator between the East and the West. He agreed with Adenauer about the importance of free elections and the refusal of the Potsdam borders, but Kaiser took the Soviet offer very seriously. In a radio address on 12 March 1952, he stated that the note had an important political significance, but he still thought it was important to approach it with caution. He asked for the Soviet suggestions to be carefully explored so that no opportunity for reunification would be missed.
Similarly, other ministers and also members of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) felt that they should at least seriously test Stalin's proposal so that public opinion would not be that reunification failed because of West Germany. It would also quickly prove whether Stalin really meant to keep his offer; otherwise, his deceit would be quickly revealed.
However, Adenauer felt that a "test" would have significant disadvantages: A conference could be drawn out by the Soviet Union, and the relationship with the West would be delayed at first. If the West finally left the conference unnerved, Stalin could blame the failure of the talks on the West. Because of the Second World War and other events in German history, such as the 1922 Treaty of Rapallo, it was essential for West Germany to appear as a reliable partner to the West. Agreeing with the offer would destroy that impression. West Germany would participate in the conference with East Germany. The latter would thus be recognized by the West, which would allow Stalin to have already achieved one of his goals, without having given up anything in return. Even if Stalin's offer was meant seriously, according to the historian Andreas Hillgruber, Adenauer was worried about a neutral unified Germany. He believed that it would not act responsibly in such a difficult situation between the East and the West. Adenauer also shared that idea and thought that a neutral Germany could not defend itself alone from the Soviet Union.
Adenauer, his ministers, the opposing Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and most of the population in West Germany agreed that Stalin's proposal was not sincere and that the demand for free elections had to be maintained. However, there was still some uneasiness that West Germany could not do anything against the division of Germany.
East German reaction In East Germany, the note was officially received with excitement. The party organ of the SED, Neues Deutschland ("New Germany"), greatly emphasised that "the Soviet Government gives the patriotic forces of the German people the possibility of starting a wide offensive against the enemies of the peaceful reunification of Germany", ("patriotic forces" meant principally communist forces). This was largely a result of the strong and heavy Soviet influence in East Germany, whose leaders were subordinated to the Soviets and their political goals and ideological directions.
East German Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl, indicated how the draft treaty was interpreted by East Germany in a government declaration on 14 March. He described East Germany as a democratic and free state and West Germany as undemocratic and fascist. Anti-peace and anti-democratic groups, however, could not be allowed to exist in a united Germany. In addition, a united Germany had to orientate itself with the East German five-year plan.
Finally, Walter Ulbricht, the general secretary of the central committee of the SED, unmistakably spoke of the interpretation of the note. It should be understood as an action against the "general war treaty" (the Germany Treaty), through which Germany would become dependent on the West. However, Germany could not develop freely and peacefully except in a communist so-called "world peace bloc". In the end, East German goals for German reunification pressed on a sweeping communist reform on a unified Germany, which could be seen by at least a few in West Germany and the West as a ploy by Moscow to gain all of Germany into the communist fold.
Western response