Decision for Europe

The publishers of this English-language edition have given the book the title Decision for Europe, and in my opinion this aptly conveys the basic idea behind Federal Germany's foreign policy over the past decade, during which I served first as Minis ter of the Interior and latterly as Foreign Minister.

The period since the end of the war has been a particularly difficult one for my country. A new State had to be forged, and we had to try to determine what position it was to occupy in the post-war world, and to set the points accordingly. The irrevoc able nature of such a decision, once the points had been set, put all the protagonists on their mettle.

The war, moreover, had left grievous wounds across the length and breadth of our land; the moral havoc bequeathed by the Hitler regime was still very much in evidence; and bestrid ing our country to the east were the Soviets, powerful and menacing. It was a perilous situation for a people, often tired and dispirited, to face. Yet the majority of Germans in the Free Zone soon made up their minds about which cause they wished to support. Although the ensuing years brought their dis appointments and their failures, our people were nevertheless convinced that to give their allegiance to European unity and to become incorporated in the Western Alliance was the only constructive policy.