HMG23  and  US  Government  could  also  have  concurred.  It  will  be  clear  to  you  from
the  fact  that  this  story  was  taken  so  seriously  in  Bonn  how  nervous  the  German  are
on  the  subject.
I  think  the  French  are  exaggerating  the  likelihood  of  the  Germans  raising  the  Saar
question  themselves  in  an  acute  form  in  the  near  future,  unless  by  reaction  to  some
move,  or  suspected  move,  of  the  French.  You  will  have  seen  for  instance  from  our
telegram  No.  29  Saving  of  the  12th  January24  that  they  did  in  fact  raise  it  pretty
abruptly  in  their  draft  reply  to  Grotewohl’s  letter25;  but  we  succeeded  in  catching
this  particular  stone  before  it  was  thrown.  The  Germans  are,  of  course,  bound  to
bring  the  question  up  eventually.  And  I  doubt  whether  French  attempts  to  forestall
German  action  would  help  in  the  last  resort,  or  be  worth  the  inevitable  damage
which  they  would  do  to  Franco-German  feeling.
I  am  copying  this  letter  to  the  recipients  of  yours.
{Yours  ever
Con  O’Neill)
(C.  O’Neill)

23  His  Majesty’s  Government.
24  Hier  nicht  abgedruckt.
Schreiben  des  DDR-Ministerpräsidenten  Otto  Grotewohl  an  die  Bundesregierung  vom
30.11.1950,  abgedruckt  in:  Ruhl,  Die  Ära  Adenauer,  S.  126  f.;  Erklärung  Adenauers  vor  dem
Bundestag  dazu,  15.1.1951,  ebd.,  S.  127-129.

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