Despite the gradual release of once-classified documents in the former Soviet Union, numerous questions and problems about Stalin's role in the Cold War remain. Some tantalizing clues about Stalin's ambitions and motivations have emerged, but several key aspects of Soviet policy in East-Central Europe in the late 1940s and early 1950s seem just as puzzling as they did before the archives were opened. The further declassification of materials may shed new light on these mysteries, enabling scholars to develop a better understanding of the first decade of the Cold War.