The German Road to Socialism

Abstract

‘He did not appear at all affected or pleased — at least that was the impression he gave. He talked to us as if it were the most natural thing in the world, after so many years, to be returning to Germany.’¹ The man was Walter Ulbricht, the place was Moscow and the date was late April 1945. The reporter was Wolfgang Leonhard, a member of the Ulbricht Group, which was to be flown to Germany even before hostilities had ceased. At last the moment for departure arrived. It was early morning on 30 April 1945. The group was to make for Berlin and to attempt the formidable task of refashioning a civil administration in the wake of the Soviet Army. The Ulbricht Group, consisting of ten functionaries, was entrusted with the key task, since it was despatched to Berlin, the capital of the Reich.² Berlin, even under four-power control, was expected to remain the capital of postwar Germany. Another group, headed by Anton Ackermann, was detailed to make for the Saxony-Halle-Merseburg area.; A third group led by Gustav Sobottka was to operate in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.⁴ Ulbricht’s group was to provide civilian back-up on the territory captured by Marshal Zhukov, Ackermann in that captured by Marshal Konev and Sobottka in that overrun by Colonel-General Fedyuninsky. The military battle for Germany was almost over but the political battle was just beginning.