ABSTRACT
Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet leader from 1953 to 1964, believed fervently in the ultimate victory of communism and saw everything in ideological terms (even the superior height of the author of this book, whom he met in New York), but he also wanted peace. He showed little interest in Molotov’s project but inadvertently smoothed the road to Helsinki by condemning Stalin’s horrendous crimes, abandoning the drive for a neutral Germany and allowing the East German regime to build a wall across Berlin. This stimulated new thinking among West German Social Democrats, whose Eastern policy helped shape the West’s approach to the Helsinki conference (see Chapter 9).
