Here's a random thought I had.
What if Stalin decided it was in the Motherland's interest to allow the Germans in the Soviet occupation zone to emigrate westward, and then brought in ethnic Russians and other 'reliable' people to fill in the void, shipping off whatever German population was stubborn enough to remain on to Siberia or thereabouts after a few years of waiting for them to leave on their own accord.
If freely allowed,a nd even encouraged to leave, how many Germans would do so ITTL?
(wiki says ~ 3.6 million left OTL between 1945 and 1961)
Would they do it? Could they do it, even if they wanted to? Effects if the Soviets tried this?