Editorial Note
On October 13 Stalin sent a message to Pieck and Grotewohl in which he congratulated the German people on the creation of the “German Democratic Republic” and assured them of the sympathy and support [Page 533] of the Soviet people. In their reply on October 14, Pieck and Grotewohl expressed the thanks of the German people, recognized their guilt for the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, and promised to fulfill the obligations arising from the Potsdam decisions. For the texts of these two messages, see Documents on International Affairs, pages 383–385 or Dokumente zur Aussenpolitik der DDR , pages 232–234.