Conrad Adenauer and the German question in German historiography

The article deals with the evaluation of Federal Chancellor Adenauer's policy in the German question formed in German historiography. The main historical initiatives and events of Adenauer's chancellorship are presented in the interpretation of German scholars. Based on the analysis of sources, the paper demonstrates the main directions of research and debatable questions of German historiography in interpretation of German policy of the first Federal Chancellor. The historiographic discussion on the Soviet Note of March 10, 1952 containing the offer of reunification of Germany with the neutral status (the so-called "Stalin Note of 1952") is considered in detail. The two main opposite interpretation directions of the issue are characterized. The supporters of the "skeptic school" refused the seriousness of the note's intentions and stressed its propaganda nature. The supporters of the "theory of the missed opportunity", on the contrary, stated the serious character of the Soviet offer and considered the refusal as a missed chance for the country reunification. The German reunification in 1990 led to the dominant position of those researchers who supported the German policy of Adenauer, and who, due to the GDR regime collapse, received a powerful argument in favor of the correctness of the long-term ideologies of German policy made by the first Federal Chancellor. The author defines the main current positions of the critics of Adenauer's German policy, who, after reunification, focused on the role of the policy of Adenauer's successors ("Willy Brandt's new east policy").