Publisher's Synopsis
The latest volume in this series of primary source material chiefly relates to the implementation of the high-level decisions taken at Potsdam. As discussions betweeen the Soviet Union and her Western fellow- occupiers proceeded, differences of opinion emerged on important matters such as Central German Administration, shares of reparations and restitution of looted property and the level of industry left to Germany.;At the same time, with little coordination of occupation policy in the four Zones, progress on such matters as denazification, disarmament and demobilization and political development tended to proceed at different rates and in different directions. The Iron Curtain had cut off the Soviet Zone and prospects for a united Germany already appeared questionable.;In the British Zone, a paternalistic regime provoked German complaints of colonialism, but the British administrators did their best to restart life in a weary and war-torn land, where the confusion was compounded by the arrival of millions expelled by Germany's eastern neighbours. Such was the scarcity of food that the British public had to make sacrifices for their defeated enemies.;Other topics covered include the first months of four-power occupation of Austria, the granting of increased independence for Italy, British concern for the recovery of France and pressure for the overthrow of Spain's General Franco, the surviving Fascist dictator.
