III. Postwar Relations with Germany
Soviet Allegations:
The Soviet note charges the Western Allies with violation of the political and economic provisions of the interallied agreements, particularly the Potsdam Agreement. It contends that these violations were a part of the Western “aggravation of the ideological struggle” and Western “war preparations.” The Western Allies, it says, worked actively to prevent the peaceful unification of Germany and West Germany's leaders were militarists who made plans to unify Germany by force.
The note goes on to state that East Germany is governed under a constitution in “the finest progressive traditions of the German nation” and has made great “democratic and social gains.” The Western powers, it states, used their presence in West Berlin to “pursue subversive activity” against Russia and the satellites, whereas, by contrast, the quadripartite agreement on Berlin was “scrupulously observed by the Soviet Union.”
The note claims that, during the entire postwar period, despite aggravations and war preparations by the West, the Soviet Union remained a firm supporter of policies of “peaceful coexistence,” “noninterference” in the affairs of other states, and respect for the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of other countries. The note says:
The participants in the Potsdam Conference expressed their determination to prevent any fascist and militaristic activity or propaganda. They also understood to permit and encourage all democratic political parties in Germany.
[ . . . ]
The Potsdam Agreement contained important provisions whereby Germany was to be regarded as a single economic entity, even during the occupational period. The agreement also provided for the creation of central German administrative departments. [ . . . ]
The policy of the USA, Britain, and France with respect to West Germany has led to the violation of those provisions of the Potsdam Agreement designed to ensure the unity of Germany as a peace-loving and democratic state. And when a separate state, the Federal Republic of Germany, was set up independently [of the Soviet Union] in West Germany, which was occupied by the troops of the Three Powers, East Germany, where forces determined not to allow the German people to be plunged once again into disaster assumed the leadership, had no alternative but to create in its turn an independent state. [ . . . ]
State and public affairs in the German Democratic Republic are governed by a constitution fully in keeping with the principles of the Potsdam Agreement and the finest progressive traditions of the German nation. [ . . . ]
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