Stalin’s Unwanted Child: The Soviet Union, the German Question and the Founding of the GDR

247 Pages·1998·25.486 MB·English

by  Wilfried Loth (auth.)

STALIN'S UNWANTED CHILD
Stalin's Unwanted Child
The Soviet Union, the German Question
and the Founding of the GDR
Wilfried Loth
Professor ofM odern History
University ofE ssen
Germany
Translated by
Robert F. Hogg
First published in Great Britain 1998 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills. Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-26402-5 ISBN 978-1-349-26400-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-26400-1
First published in the United States of America 1998 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York. N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-21028-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Loth, Wilfried.
(Stalins ungeliebtes Kind. English]
Stalin's unwanted child: the Soviet Union, the German question,
and the founding of the GDR I Wilfried Loth; translated Roben F.
Hogg.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-21028-1
I. Germany (East}-Foreign relations-Soviet Union. 2. Soviet
Union-Foreign relations-Germany (East) · 3. Germany (East)-
-Politics and government. 4. Military government-Germany (East)
5. Military occupation. I. Title.
DD286.5.L6713 1997
327.431047~c21 97-38375
CIP
© Rowohlt Verlag GmbH 1998
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1998 978-0-333-71657-1
Originally published in hardcover as Stalins ungeliebtes Kind
Rowohlt Verlag GmbH 1994
Paperback edition Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 1996
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with
written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Coun Road, London WIP 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has assened his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
07 06 05 04 03 02 OJ ()() 99 98
Contents
List of Abbreviations vii
Introduction ix
1 A Programme for Germany 1
Complex Necessities
Uncertain Sizing-Up 4
Unity as the Goal 7
From Military Regime to Multiparty State 12
Democratic Socialism 15
Initial Successes 19
2 First Setbacks 22
Everyday Stalinism 23
Pushing the SED Through 26
Tendencies toward Separation 34
Forks in the Reparations Road 43
3 From Paris to London 48
Pluralistic Practice 48
The Second Try 54
The Moscow Meeting of the Foreign Ministers' Council 58
Fast Failure 62
4 The Cominform Line 72
Fighting Spirit and Unity 72
A New Course? 77
Berlin as a Means of Pressure 84
The Turning Point in the Blockade 92
5 Zigzag to the Eastern State 95
Ulbricht and Tulpanov 95
Ulbricht Seizes Power 100
Stalin Stopped 106
All-German Twilight 110
Decision in September 118
v
vi Contents
6 Between Two Goals 121
Silent Coup 122
"Germans at a Single Table!" 127
Stalin's Notes 132
Socialism in Place of Unity 140
7 Ulbricht's Revolution 147
The Crisis of Socialism 147
Beria's Revision 151
The "New Course" of the SED 156
Ulbricht Saves Himself 160
Retreat by Increments 166
Conclusion: How the GDR Came to Be 171
Epilogue to the English Edition 178
Chronology 186
Notes 190
Bibliography 220
Name Index 229
Subject Index 232
List of Abbreviations
BA Bundesarchiv Koblenz (Federal Archive at Koblenz)
BAP Bundesarchiv Potsdam (Federal Archive at Potsdam)
BRD Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany)
CAB Cabinet Papers
CDU Christlich-Demokratische Union (Christian Democratic
Union)
CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union
csu
Christlich-Soziale Union (Christian Social Union)
CWIHP Cold War International History Project
DBD Demokratische Bauernpartei Deutschlands (Democratic
Peasants' Party of Germany)
DDR Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic
Republic)
DPD Demokratische Partei Deutschlands (Democratic Party of
Germany)
DWK Deutsche Wirtschaftskommission (German Economic
Commission)
EAC European Advisory Commission
EDC European Defence Community
FDGB Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (Free German Fed-
eration of Unions)
FDJ Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth)
FO Foreign Office
FRG Federal Republic of Germany
FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States
HI COG High Commission for Germany
KPD Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Communist Party
of Germany)
LDPD Liberal-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands (Liberal Demo-
cratic Party of Germany)
MfS Ministerium fiir Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security)
MGB Ministerstvo Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti (Ministry of
State Security)
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NDPD National-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands (National
Democratic Party of Germany)
vii
viii List of Abbreviations
NKGB Narodnii Kommissariat Gosudarstvennoi Bezopastnosti
(People's Commissariat for State Security)
NKVD Narodnii Kommissariat Vnutrennikh Del (People's Commis-
sariat of Internal Affairs)
NL NachlaB (Personal Papers)
NS National Socialist
PRO Public Record Office
SAG Sowjetische Aktiengesellschaft (Soviet Joint-Stock Corporation)
SBZ Sowjetische Besatzungszone (Soviet Occupation Zone)
SED Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity
Party of Germany)
sec
Soviet Control Commission
SMA Soviet Military Administration
soz
Soviet Occupation Zone
SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Demo-
cratic Party of Germany)
UN United Nations
UNRRA United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
USA United States of America
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
ZK Zentralkomitee (Central Committee)
ZPA Zentrales Parteiarchiv (Central Party Archive)
Introduction
The origins of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) are, by and large,
regarded as well understood. The conventional version has it that the
victorious Soviet Union utilized the presence of its troops on German
soil at the end of the Second World War to export the Soviet societal
model. The Soviet victors, and the German Communists aiding them,
initially hid their true goals behind an "anti-fascist" fa~ade but worked
secretly to establish a Communist monopoly on power. Having achieved
this, they then proclaimed the first "workers' and peasants' state" in German
history. In this view, it remains uncertain as to whether the Soviet
model was intended for all of Germany or whether Stalin, realistically
assessing the overall situation, quickly set his sights on the separate
organization of the Soviet Occupation Zone. Although opinions differ
on that point, they all agree that the conflict between the systems of
East and West was ultimately responsible for the division of Germany.
The historical literature in the GDR proclaimed a similar message
but with a different evaluation: anti-fascist democratic transformation
and the realization of the historical mission of the working class were,
according to this literature, two sides of the very same coin. Conse-
quently, the revolutionary vanguard of the German working class, sup-
ported by their Soviet "friends", brought together under its leadership
a broad alliance of all anti-fascist and democratic forces. Together,
these forces strove for a democratic republic and paved the way for
socialism. The representatives of the German monopolistic bourgeoisie
opposed these goals. Because these forces enjoyed the support of
American imperialists in western Germany, the victory of the working
class remained, for the time being, a limited one.
Admittedly, a few awk\\ard facts always stood in the way of this
straightforward view of the division of Germany as a consequence of
the conflict between the East and West Blocs. Did Stalin not offer
reunification on "bourgeois" terms in 1952, with the condition that the
united Germany pledge itself to neutrality in the conflict between East
and West? Were there also not reports that Moscow repeatedly consid-
ered such a solution and in the spring of 1953 even began to put it
into effect? These reports fit so poorly with the general impression of
Soviet policy that many in the West declared that the Soviet offer could
not be taken seriously. Nevertheless, it proved difficult to verify this
ix
X Introduction
claim. Corresponding demonstrations were indeed always very well
received; but a closer inspection always gave rise to doubts.
Disputes over the goals of Soviet policy on Germany provoked the
comment that scholars would have something more specific to say only
if, on some distant day, Eastern archives were to be made available
for research, a development which hardly anyone could imagine. In
the meantime, that has indeed come about: since the collapse of the
GDR, the party archive of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) has been
open to researchers, witnesses to Stalin's German policy have begun
to speak out thanks to Glasnost, and, though hindered by many prac-
tical difficulties, the archives of the former Soviet Union are little by
little becoming accessible. On the basis of this material, it is both
possible and necessary to rewrite the history of the GDR's origins.
In this book, the new sources will be comprehensively analysed for
the first time. The most important of these are notes made by Wilhelm
Pieck. As chairman of the KPD and SED as well as the first President
of the GDR, he made notes of conversations of the KPD/SED leader-
ship with Stalin and with leading representatives of the Soviet Mili-
tary Administration (SMA) and Soviet Control Commission (SCC).
Although these notes only fragmentarily and unevenly recapitulate the
course of discussi'on between the Soviet occupying power and the top
functionaries of the SED, they do so without distortion and without
interruption for almost eight years, from the beginning of the occu-
piers' rule in the early summer of 1945 to Stalin's death in the spring
of 1953. These extraordinarily authentic and densely packed materials
are supplemented by separate records of conversations written by other
SED leaders, speech texts and minutes found in the SED Archive, files
of the former Soviet Foreign Ministry, witnesses' reports and memoirs
of Soviet and German functionaries, as well as source materials from
Eastern European and Western archives.
The new sources shed new light on first-hand accounts which have
long been available; and for this reason, these will be re-examined
here. Especially informative was Erich W. Gniflke's report on his tenure
with the SPD Central Committee and SED Central Secretariat. Although
published in 1966, the many suggestive passages in Gniffke's book
have been astonishingly little noticed. 1 It was also possible to gain
new perspectives from Wolfgang Leonhard's well-known report on his
activity as a Communist functionary.2 This was also the case with many
first-hand accounts concerning 17 June 1953. Finally, if one is familiar
with these internal discussions, then the public statements of Soviet
and German functionaries have much to offer that is new.