In March 1952, given the confrontational policy that the USSR had pursued up to that point, it was hard for anyone to imagine that Stalin's proposal for a peace treaty with a neutral unified Germany was linked to a willingness for reunification based on free elections. However, as time went on, the view increasingly spread that a chance had been missed with the rejection. The resulting controversy among historians over whether it was a "serious offer" or not did not come to a conclusion, even as documents from Moscow's archives became accessible, albeit initially in very limited scope. This book presents the debate over the March note, the arguments for and against it, and the course of Soviet policy towards Germany during the Stalin era, based on the significantly improved availability of sources.