Germany Divided: From the Wall to Reunification (Princeton Studies in International History and Politics Book 182)

Germany Divided remains one of the most thought-provoking and comprehensive interpretations of the forty-year relationship between East and West Germany and of the problems of contemporary German unity. In this politically controversial and analytically sophisticated account, A. James McAdams dissects the complex process by which East and West German leaders moved over the years from first pursuing the ideal of German unity, to accepting what they believed to be the inescapable reality of division, and then, finally, to meeting the challenges of an unanticipated reunification. This new edition contains an epilogue in which McAdams considers some of the political and economic problems faced by eastern and western Germans as they entered their fourth year of living together. Contents 11 Preface 13 Acknowledgments 17 Abbreviations 21 I A Wall between the Germanys 25 Accepting Germany's Division 27 A German-German Consensus 35 II One Germany, Two Alliances 38 The Soviet Ultimatum 39 East German Uncertainties 45 The Persistence of West German Policy 52 The Evolution of East German Policy 58 Divergent Priorities 66 The Construction of the Wall 71 Ill Two Germanys: Confrontation or Accommodation? 78 Changing Surroundings 79 West Germany's Awkward Adaptation 86 The Rigidity of East German Policy 93 Bonn's Breakthrough: The Ostpolitik 107 The End of the Ulbricht Era 115 Two States in Germany? 121 IV Two German States: New Relations, Bad Relations 124 The Inter-German Dilemma 125 The Benefits of Cooperation 130 Handling Questions of Principle 134 Whither Inter-German Ties: The View from Bonn 141 Toward a German-German Deadlock? 154 Inter-German Ties in Question 161 V Accepting a Divided Germany 162 A Threat from the West 163 An East German Opportunity? 169 The Meeting at Werbellin 175 The "Wende" 180 A German "Coalition of Reason" 186 A New Era between the Germanys 192 A Working Visit to Bonn 207 VI The Fall of East Germany 209 The Illusion of Success 211 A Path of Least Resistance 219 A New Political Force 227 The West German Response 233 Unity Despite the Germanys 238 VII Germany without a Wall 241 Inter-German Tensions of a New Type 243 A Liberal Democratic Germany 250 The New Germany and the New Europe 256 Epilogue 263 Alternative German Futures 264 Politics in Hindsight 270 Appendix A Interview Locations, 1985-1990 279 Appendix B GDR Oral History Project Interviews 281 Select Bibliography 283 Index 295 Germany Divided is the first comprehensive scholarly interpretation of the forty-year relationship between East and West Germany and of the problems of contemporary German unity. When the Berlin Wall was opened on November 9, 1989, there was widespread surprise at the rush to unification: Germany was reuniting just when almost everyone, political participant and observer alike, had become accustomed to it being divided. In this politically controversial and analytically sophisticated account, A. James McAdams dissects the complex process by which East and West German leaders moved over the years from first pursuing the ideal of German unity, to accepting what they believed to be the inescapable reality of division, and then, finally, to meeting the challenges of an unanticipated reunification. In addition to relevant primary and secondary materials, including archival holdings in both German states, McAdams draws on an unprecedented series of interviews conducted throughout the 1980s and early 1990s with officials of the Federal Chancellery, the Foreign Office, and the Ministry of Intra-German Relations of the Federal Republic in Bonn, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the SED Central Committee of the German Democratic Republic in East Berlin. With this unique access to information on high-level decision making, he chronicles an era when the restoration of German unity appeared anything but assured