217. E.P. Timoshenkova. The German issue in Soviet foreign policy (1945-1955). Reports of the IE RAS, № 217, М., 2008.

Annotation

            The analysis of the «German issue» during the first decade after the Second World War remains essential, despite the end of the Cold War and fundamental political changes in the world. It was precisely the period when the framework of a new system of inter­national relations was established. The author focuses on Soviet fo­reign policy on the unification of Germany in 1945-1955. Besides, most disputable issues concerning Russian and German history are also considered in the study. They include I.V. Stalin's attitude to­wards the «German issue» from 1945 to 1952 and its evolution, fea­tures of Western (first of all, US) policy on the «German issue», po­sitions of both German states (the GDR and the FRG) and their po­litical intentions. Numerous original sources distinguish this study from the others. The author has managed to find previously unknown documents and compare unique data from Russian and German ar­chives.