The “Redefinition” of Germany and Europe's Peace

Abstract

Tk M ore than a year after the surrender of Germany, not only does lVXEtirope present a picture of disorganization and confusion but no official plans have been made public for effectively dealing with the future of that distressed continent. The basic reason for this state of affairs is the failure to settle definitively the fate of the German state. Unless this is done, and until it is done, it will be impossible to make realistic plans for the reconstruction of France, Belgium, and Holland, indeed of Italy and Great Britain. /Nor will it be possible to reduce or eliminate the atmosphere of suspicion and unrest that poisons the relations between East and West. The resumption of normal international trade with European countries, and the flow of investment funds towards Europe also await the settlement of the German problem. In the meantime, day follows upon day and it seems that those concerned are riding off in all possible directions, avoiding carefully, however, that crucial problem of peacemaking. But time does not stand still. Germans who were displaced by the Allied bombings of the Rhineland and of the Ruhr, as well as Germans expelled from Poland and Czechoslovakia and from areas placed at Potsdam under Polish occupation, are moving back West, which will considerably aggravate the difficulties of an eventual settlement. Also the impression is being given abroad that there is no intention of changing the Western borders of Germany, in spite of French demands to the contrary, an impression greatly enhanced by Secretary Byrnes' Stuttgart speech. The longer a final settlement is postponed the more difficult it will become to adopt a bold and imaginative approach to the problem of redefining Germany and of reorganizing Europe. A redefinition of Germany and the reorganization of Europe are the two interrelated matters which jointly represent the crux of the European peace settlement. On their treatment will depend the question whether Europe is to experience durable peace