Edited and with an Introduction by Michael Wala, Assistant Professor at Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg This recently discovered study by Allen Dulles, written in the winter of 1947/48 when the acceptance of the Marshall Plan was still in doubt, not only offers fascinating insights into the early postwar period but may also serve as an inspiration to policy makers at a time when there is much discussion of recovery programmes for Eastern Europe and the Marshall Plan is often evoked as a possible model.