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-- ABSTRACT --

WILLIAM STIVERS
Was Sovietization Inevitable?
U.S. Intelligence Perceptions of Internal Developments
in the Soviet Zone of Occupation in Germany

William Stivers from the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington, DC offers insights in the way US-intelligence perceived internal developments in the Soviet zone in Germany until the end of the Berlin blockade in May 1949. His account shows that American intelligence analysts came to the correct conclusion that the Soviets had no master plan for Germany and that the fate of Germany was largely undetermined. The examples Stivers puts forward reflect Soviet groping for alternatives in East Germany in trying to impede West Germany’s integration in the western camp.