DISINFO: Germany remained a state after WWII due to Stalin
SUMMARY
The very existence of a German state after WWII was largely due to the Soviet Union and, in particular, to former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who allowed it to remain in some form. The unification of Germany was due to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's personal foolishness. Everyone was against it.
RESPONSE
Recurring Russian state TV and pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the unification of Germany.
During the Second World War, the Allies discussed the idea of a fragmented Germany, with various proposals aimed at weakening Germany’s power potential by dividing it into multiple, smaller entities. The Allied powers, and not only Stalin, ultimately agreed at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences in 1945 to divide Germany into four occupation zones administered by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union. This structure allowed for joint administration without fully dissolving Germany as a state.
Germany was unified on 3 October 1990, following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the division of Europe. The process of unification was initiated by the will of the people in both East and West Germany and was supported by the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. On 12 September 1990, the four victorious powers of World War II signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, paving the way for German unification on 3 October 1990. The treaty also allowed for the full sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany, which came into effect on the same day. Gorbachev did play a certain part in this process, along with other world leaders such US President George H. Bush, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and other politicians to secure a peaceful path to unification, but his role was no greater than that of the other leaders.
Read more about the Kremlin's attempts to rewrite the history of German reunification and see similar disinformation cases claiming that The GDR / DDR was annexed by West Germany in 1990 and that East Germany was attached to the West as a colony.