The Facts Are:
1. The stated purposes of postwar agreements between the Allies on Germany were to eliminate vestiges of the Third Reich, to prevent rebirth of aggressive forces, and to chart a course by which Germany could recover its respect and play a constructive role in international affairs.
2. Long before the signature of the Potsdam Protocol, embodying these principles, in August 1945, the U.S.S.R. began its efforts to turn Germany into a Soviet satellite. It selected, trained, and repatriated individuals who later became the political and military leaders of the East German regime.
3. Before the Western powers occupied their sectors in Berlin, the Soviet Army had licensed political parties and subjected them to control through traditional Communist mechanisms, These still obtain in East Germany today.
4. Nevertheless the victorious powers negotiated the Potsdam Protocol, which contained both negative features (demilitarization, denazification, and reparations) and positive features (elected local governments, unified administration, democratic rights for all citizens, balanced economic treatment, and an eventual peace treaty to settle the war). The U.S.S.R. refused to carry out these positive principles.
5. The United States did not wish Germany to become a Soviet satellite. It urged economic recovery in Europe as a whole.
6. The U.S.S.R. sidestepped an American proposal for a 40-year nonaggression pact guaranteeing against a recurrence of German military aggression. The Soviets opposed economic recovery in Europe. They walked out of the four-power Allied Control Council for Germany and instituted the Berlin blockade in 1948 to try to force the Western Allies out of the city.
7. In Berlin the Soviets forced the split in the city and set up a rump government in East Berlin to oppose the duly elected government of the city.
8. Despite the lack of Soviet cooperation, the Western powers proceeded to carry out the Potsdam Protocol in their own zones in West Germany. Following free elections and the adoption of an approved Basic Law (constitution), the Federal Republic was established.
9. The Soviets proclaimed the so-called German Democratic Republic in 1949. No free elections have ever been held.
10. The Communists continue to prevent free circulation of information and to control movement of citizens in East Germany and between East and West Germany. They justify this action on grounds of preventing “fascist aggression” and “outside provocation” by “espionage agencies” in West Berlin.
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