ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS PUT BY
AMERICAN JOURNALIST JOHANNES STEEL*

1. Question: Do you believe that the American propos-
als for the political organization of Germany will lead to
the dismemberment of that country?

Answer: Such a danger does exist.

%.'Question: What, in your view, would be the conse-
quences of such a development?

Answer: The consequences of such a development
would be undesirable, as they might give an opportunity
to the German militarists and revanchists to take the
cause of the unification of Germany into their own hands,
as was the case, for instance, under Bismarck.

3. Question: Do you believe that a compromise is pos-
sible between the Russian proposal for German unity and
the American proposal for "federalization"?

Answer: I do not preclude such a possibility, if it
would be possible to reach agreement about letting the
German people themselves decide the question of federali-
zation by a plebiscite.

* Published in the Moscow newspapers, April 5, 1947,
454