| Zusammenfassung: | The partial opening of the Francois-Mitterrand-Archives for the first of Francois Mitterrand's seven year terms permits first hand evaluation of the Elysee's attitude toward German Chancellors Helmut Schmidt and his successor Helmut Kohl during a critical phase of development in domestic and foreign policy in 1981-1984. How French foreign policy was tailored by the Elysee to fit "Deutschlandpolitik", how much importance Paris attributed to German domestic policy and how great the importance was to maintain unbroken bilateral relations between the two countries can be seen in the documents. After a period of mutual distrust, relations between Mitterrand and Schmidt rapidly improved. Especially in the matter of the Siberian pipeline to Europe, German and French solidarity, independent of the United States, led to more openess between Paris and Bonn and was manifested by regular communication. Despite Mitterrand's obsession with national security, he was actively involved in the formulation of the historic speech given on January 20, 1983 in the German Bundestag. Mitterrand's objective here was to back his ally's foreign policy position, placed in jeopardy by the recently arisen German peace movement. In sum, the early years of Francois Mitterrand's presidency were marked more than assumed by the will to maintain continued stability in Germany's foreign policy. (Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte / FUB)
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