1. Private documents, see also Jacques Attali, Verbatim I. 1981–1983: chronique des annees 1981–1986 (Paris: Librairie generale francaise, 1995), 491.
2. Helmut Kohl’s and Mitterrand’s personalities and encounter have been often described. In this respect two useful biographies and two studies on their years in power can be quoted: Jean Lacouture, Mitterrand. Une histoire de Francais, 2 vol. (Paris: Seuil, 1998); Jean-Paul Picaper, Karl Hugo Pruys, Helmut Kohl (Paris: Fayard, 1996); Clay Clemens, William E. Paterson, eds., The Kohl chancellorship (F. Cass: London, 1998); and Pierre Favier, Michel Martin-Roland, La decennie Mitterrand (Paris: Ed. du Seuil, 1995).
3. Numerous studies have been devoted to Franco-German relations at the time of Mitterrand and Kohl. For the French side, we recommend in particular the following recent scholarly works based on archival research: Frederic Bozo, Mitterrand, la fin de la guerre froide et l’unification allemande. De Yalta a Maastricht (Paris: Odile Jacob, 2005); Marion Gaillard, La politique allemande de Francois Mitterrand, 1981–1995 (These de doctorat de 1’Institut d’Etude politique de Paris, dir. Pierre Milza, 2007); and Tilo Schabert, Wie Weltgeshichte gemacht wird. Frankreich und die deutsche Einheit (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 2002). Bozo’s work on Mitterrand and German unity will be published in English in 2009 by Berghahn books. For the German side, we principally refer to the following published sources and academic studies: Dokumente zur Deutschlandpolitik, Deutsche Einheit. Sonderedition aus den Akten des Bundeskanzleramtes 1989–90 (Munich: R. Oldenburg, 1998); Werner Rouget, Schwierige Nachbarschafi am Rhein. Frankreich-Deutschland (Munich: Piper Verlag, 2002); Hans Stark, Kohl, l’Allemagne et l’Europe. La politique d’intégration europeenne de la Republique federale 1982–1998 (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2004). See also the numerous memoirs published by the main actors, such as Jacques Attali, Verbatim, vol. 1, 2, 3 (Paris: Fayard, 1993–95); Joachim Bitterlich, “In memoriam Werner Rouget,” in Schwierige Nachbarschaft am Rhein. FrankreichDeutschland, Werner Rouget, ed. by Joachim Bitterlich, Ernst Weisenfeld (Bonn: Bouvier, 1998); Roland Dumas, Lefil et la pelote. Memoires (Paris: Plon, 1996); Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Erinnerungen (Berlin: Siedler Verlag, 1995); Helmut Kohl, Reden und Erklarungen zur Deutschlandpolitik (Bonn: Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung, 1990); Helmut Kohl, Ich wollte Deutschlands Einheit (Berlin: Ullstein, 1996); Francois Mitterrand, Reflexion sur la politique extérieure de la France. Introduction a 25 discours 1981–1985 (Paris: Fayard, 1986); Francsois Mitterrand, De lAllemagne, de la France (Paris: Odile Jacob, 1996); Horst Teltschick, 329 Tage. Innenansichten der Einigung (Berlin: Siedler, 1991); and Hubert Wdrine, Les mondes de Francois Mitterrand: a l’Elysee, 1981–1995 (Paris: Fayard 1996).
4. Mitterrand’s speech in front of the Bundestag, in Les relations franco-allemandes depuis 1963, eds. Pierre Jardin and Adolf Kimmel (Paris: La Documentation francaise, 2001), 261–63.
5. For the most critical study on France’s position on reunification, see Samy Cohen, ed., Mitterrand et la sortie de la guerre froide (Paris: PUF, 1998). One should also consult two articles by Daniel Vernert, a journalist at LeMonde, and notice his interesting evolution on this question: Daniel Vernet, “Mitterrand et la reunification dans les archives allemandes” (Politique etrangere, no. 2/1999, p. 395–403); and Daniel Vernet, “Mitterrand, l’Europe et la reunification allemande” (Politique etrangere, no. 1/2003, p. 165–79).