A Cold War In The Soviet Bloc: Polish-east German Relations, 1945-1962

by Sheldon Anderson

Overview

In A Cold War in the Soviet Bloc, Sheldon Anderson uses recently declassified documents from Polish and East German communist party and foreign ministry archives to examine the interplay of national interests with the exigencies of communist party relations within the Soviet bloc during the Cold War. Anderson explores how Polish-East German relations were strained over the permanence of the Oder-Neisse border, the correct road to socialism, German repatriation from Poland, and trade policy; he provides an inside account of the heated debates that seriously divided the Polish and East German communists.Anderson delves into how and why the rift culminated in the return of the anti-Stalinist Wladyslaw Gomulka in October 1956, and he delineates how the Polish-East German conflict undermined the unity of the Soviet bloc on its most strategic flank. In doing so, he reveals the persistence of nationalism and ethnic prejudice in the former communist countries. In this timely text, Anderson pinpoints how nationalism has reemerged as a powerful political force following the end of the Cold War. With A Cold War in the Soviet Bloc, Anderson markedly fills the gap in the existing scholarship on postwar relations between the countries of East Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780429982378
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/23/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Sheldon Anderson

Table of Contents

Introduction , "There Are No Good Germans": The Myth of Proletarian Internationalism, 1945–1949 , The Controversy over the Oder-Neisse Border, 1946–1949 , The Myth of the Stalinist Brotherhood, 1949–1954 , The Problems of German Repatriation, Reparations, and Trade, 1945–1953 , German Remilitarization and the Polish Thaw, 1954–1955 , Khrushchev's De-Stalinization Speech and Gomułka's Return to Power, January–October, 1956 , The Cold Winter of Polish–East German Relations, 1956–1957 , Gomułka's Trade Policies and the Recurring Problem of German Repatriation, 1953–1957 , Gomułka's Foreign Policy and the Ulbricht-Gomułka Summit, 1956–1957 , The Rapacki Plan and the German Question, 1957–1959 , The Right Road to Socialism and Ulbricht's Visit to Poland, 1958–1959 , The GDR as a Model for Polish Socialism, 1959–1961 , The Berlin Wall and the Détente in Polish–East German Relations, 1961–1962 , Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

Uses recently declassified documents from Polish and East German communist party and foreign ministry archives to examine the interplay of national interests with exigencies of communist party relations within the Soviet bloc. Examines how Polish-East German relations were strained over the permanence of the Oder-Neisse border, the correct road to socialism, German repatriation from Poland, and trade policy, providing an inside account of debates that seriously divided the Polish and East German communists. Anderson teaches history and international studies at Miami University. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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