For a few brief years, it seemed as though Germany would be firmly divided between a capitalist/democratic state in the west and a single-party Marxist-Leninist state in the east, a division that might have lasted several decades throughout the Cold War, if not beyond (as with North Korea's continued existence). However, following the death of Joseph Stalin and the ascension of Lavrentiy Beria as Soviet leader, he shifted from that course and stunned the world by stating that he aimed to "de-Stalinize" Soviet foreign policy, with the reunification of Germany under the Federal Republic as a goal of that project. Chancellor Adenauer was deeply hesitant at the thought of accepting the offer, feeling that the condition of neutrality would be a ploy for further communist expansion upon western Germany. However, under mounting public pressure accepted, and relinquished all German claims east of the Oder.
Of course, Beria's vision of an economically and diplomatically reformed USSR would not last, being overthrown and assassinated by hardliners in the party in 1961, but his legacy of allowing Germany to be reunified would. So what would happen if Beria didn't succeed Stalin after his death? Was reunification an inevitability in any case, given that some historians still argue as to the genuineness of the so-called "Stalin note" as a precursor to reunification. Or does the shorty lived GDR live a much longer life?