severance from it of the Caucasus, the Ukraine, Byelorus-
sia, the Baltic and other regions, He definitely said: 'We
shall destroy Russia so that she shall never be able to
rise again.' This was three years ago. But Hitler's insane
ideas were fated to remain unrealized—the course of the
war scattered them to the winds like dust. Actually, the
very opposite of what the Hitlerites dreamed of in their
delirium occurred. Germany is utterly defeated. The Ger-
man troops are surrendering. The Soviet Union is trium-
phant, although it has no intention of either dismembering
or destroying Germany."
Thus, already several months before Potsdam', Gener-
alissimo Stalin declared that the Soviet Union had "no
intention of either dismembering or destroying Germany."
How then can Mr. Bevin now assert that at the end of
the Potsdam session a proposal was unexpectedly advanced
opposite to that which had been made in Teheran, and
that it was proposed to treat Germany as a single unit?
From the facts I have cited it will be seen how the
matter really stood.
I shall now pass to Mr. Marshall's statement. Mr.
Marshall began his statement yesterday with the words:
'The United States delegation believes the concentration
of basic economic resources in the Ruhr area raises two
distinct problems:-one is the question of security against
the militant use of Ruhr resources by a revived Germany.
The other is the question of how to assure that the con-
centration of coal, steel and other resources in the Ruhr
area will be equitably employed in the interests of the
countries of Europe including Germany."
The Soviet delegation agrees that the Ruhr problem
should be examined, first, from the standpoint of inter-
national security and, secondly, -from the standpoint of the
employment of the economic resources of the Ruhr.
42S