Did you know about the Stalin Note, also known as the March Note? On March 10, 1952, the Soviet Union proposed a plan for German reunification and neutralization with no conditions on economic policies. The proposal included guarantees for “the rights of man and basic freedoms, including freedom of speech, press, religious persuasion, political conviction, and assembly,” as well as the free activity of democratic parties and organizations. Essentially, these were the same conditions as for Austria. Conservative CDU/CSU West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the Western Allies characterized Stalin’s offer of reintegration as an aggressive action and rejected it.
