Paris Peace Conf. 180.03401764
CF–64
Notes of a Meeting Held at President Wilson’s House in the Place des
Etats-Unis, Paris, on Friday, June 13, 1919, at 12 Noon
Paris, June 13, 1919, noon
-
Present
-
United States of America
-
British Empire
- The Rt. Hon. D. Lloyd George, M. P.
-
France
-
Italy
-
Japan
| Sir Maurice Hankey, K. C. B. |
} |
Secretaries.
|
| M. di Martina |
| Prof. P. J. Mantoux.—Interpreter.
|
The following experts on the subject of the Rhine Provinces were also
present:—
- M. Loucheur for France.
- Mr. Wise and Mr. Waterlow for Great Britain.
1. The Council had before them the report (see Appendix I) dated June
9th, of the Commission appointed by them on May 29th1 to rewrite the draft convention relating to the
occupation of the Rhine Provinces, on the skeleton plan suggested in the
letter from Mr. Noyes, the American delegate on the inter-allied
Rhineland Commission, to President Wilson, dated May 27th, 1919.2
Convention Regarding the Territories of the
Rhine
This report and its first two annexes, viz, the draft convention and the
memorandum, were considered.
President Wilson read out the English texts of
these documents, which, after discussion, were adopted with the
amendments set out below. The two texts as thus amended are attached as
appendices II and III, respectively, to the present procès-verbal.
The omission of the words “and the execution of the Treaty” from Article
III (a) of the draft convention was, on the
proposal of President Wilson, decided on the ground that to supervise
the execution of the Treaty of Peace was outside the scope which it was
desirable to give to the functions of the Rhineland High Commission.
[Page 378]
In regard to Article IV of the draft convention, Monsieur Clemenceau explained that Marshal Foch had put
forward certain objections to the principle on which it was proposed to
base the administration of the occupied territory (see Appendix I, Annex
3), but it was pointed out that the question of principle would arise in
connection with the memorandum (see Appendix I, Annex 2). When Article V
of the memorandum was reached, Monsieur
Loucheur (French Minister of Industrial Reconstitution), who
was in attendance, explained that what Marshal Foch chiefly had in mind
was the danger of setting up two separate authorities, viz., the Allied
High Command and the Inter-allied Rhineland High Commission, to deal
with the German authorities. The Marshal feared that any attempt to work
such a system would lead to confusion, and he considered that the proper
course was to vest all necessary powers for dealing with the German
authorities in one single inter-allied authority, who might be assisted
by an advisory council in respect of economic and civil matters. While
taking note of this point of view, the Council decided to maintain the
principle of making an inter-allied civil authority the supreme
representative of the associated Governments concerned in the
administration of the occupied territory.
The following are the amendments adopted in the draft convention:—
- Article I., paragraph 2. For the words “admitted into”
substitute the words “maintained in”.
- Article III (a). Omit the words “and
the execution of the Treaty”.
- Article IV. After the words “military officer” insert the
words “of the occupying armies”.
- Article V. After the words “German authorities” insert the
following words: “and the civil administration of these areas
shall continue under German law and under the authority of the
Central German Government, except in so far as it may be
necessary for the Commission, by ordinances under Article III.,
to accommodate that administration to the needs and
circumstances of military occupation”.
- Article VI., Paragraph 2. Between the word “composed” and the
word “both” insert the words “in equal representations of”. In
what follows omit the word “of” before “German” and
“Allied”.
- Article VII. Add the words “subject to the provisions of
Article VIII. (b) below”.
- Article VIII. (b). In paragraph 1 omit
the words “in principle”. And insert the word “exceptional”
before the word “emergency”.
- Article IX., Paragraph 1. Insert the word “direct” between the
word “German” and the word “taxes”.
- Article X., Paragraph 1. Substitute the word “purposes” for
the word “reasons”.
- Article XI., Paragraph 1. Substitute the word “may” for the
word “shall”.
- Paragraph 2. Between the word “may” and the word “enter”
insert the words “subject to the approval of the High
Commission”
- Paragraph 5. Add at the end the words “by the allied Military
Authorities”.
- Article XII., Paragraph 3. After the words “armies of
occupation” insert the words “or of the Commission”.
- Article XIII., Paragraph 1. For the words “German law of 4th
June, 1851” substitute the words “German Imperial law of May 30,
1892”.
- Paragraph 2. Between the word “such” and the word “measures”
insert the word “temporary”.
The following are the amendments adopted in the memorandum:—
- Article I. For the words “but economic questions will be
referred” substitute the words “economic questions being first
referred by the High Commission”.
- Article V. The first sentence from the beginning to the words
“occupied territory” should read as follows: “All civil
commissions or officers already appointed, or to be appointed,
by any one or more of the allied Governments to deal with
matters affecting the civil administration of the economic life
of the civilian population in the occupied territory”.
- Article VI. A new clause to be inserted at the beginning of
this article as follows: “(a) The
appointment of each High Commissioner shall be subject to the
approval of all the allied and associated Governments
represented”.
The clauses (a), (b), (c) and (d) in the draft to
be re-lettered (b), (c),
(d) and (e)
respectively.
In clause (d) substitute the words “a single” for
the words “an equal”.
A new article to be added at the end of the memorandum as follows:—“VII.
In issuing decrees and proclamations or otherwise interfering with civil
administration under a state of siege, the Commander-in-Chief shall
continue to act in consultation with, and only with the approval of, the
High Commission. This shall, of course, not apply to action of a purely
military nature.”
Villa Majestic,
Paris
, June 13,
1919.
Appendix I to CF–64
WCP–978
Report Presented to the Council of
the Principal Allied and Associated Powers by the Inter-Allied
Commission on the Left Bank of the Rhine
The Commission appointed by the Council of Four, with instructions to
draft a convention as to the occupation of the Rhine Provinces on
the lines of the plan suggested in the letter of May 27th, 1919,
addressed by Mr. Noyes, the American representative on the
Inter-Allied Rhineland Commission, to President Wilson, has held
several [Page 380] meetings on the
basis of the creation of an Inter-Allied High Commission.
As a result, the Commission has drawn up the annexed draft convention
(Annex 1) to be negotiated with the German Government as regards the
military occupation of the Rhine territories. The basis of this
draft convention is the abolition of a state of siege at the
earliest possible moment.
The Commission has also drawn up a draft memorandum (Annex 2)
defining the relations between the Allied military authorities and
the Inter-Allied High Commission of the Rhine.
Marshal Foch has put forward certain objections as to the principle
on which the High Commission is constituted.
The members of the Commission pointed out that they were not
concerned to discuss questions of principle, as they had merely
received instructions to draft a convention.
Marshal Foch, at the request of the Commission, has handed in a note
which set out his objections against the principle of the
organisation and functions of the Rhineland Commission.
As regards the memorandum, (Article 5) Marshal Foch has requested
that all commissions in the occupied territories dealing with
matters of civil administration, which are to be subordinated to the
High Commission, should be specified by name, since the military
authorities may be obliged to preserve or to create certain
conditions.
After Marshal Foch’s note had been communicated, the Italian
Delegation pointed out that, if the High Commission was to be vested
with economic and financial powers, Italy would require to be
represented on the High Commission, either by a permanent member or
by a liaison officer.
Mr. Davis, in the name of the American Delegation, and M. Loucheur
declared that, in their opinion, there could be no question of
giving such powers to the Rhineland High Commission, and that the
powers given to the Commission appeared to them to be clearly
defined and limited in the text as presented.
Lord Robert Cecil, while agreeing that the powers of the High
Commission are strictly limited to such powers as may be necessary
to secure the safety and maintenance of the armies of occupation,
pointed out that in his opinion, these powers would involve, on the
part of the Commission, a considerable amount of legislative
intervention in civil matters, particularly if the occupation were
to be prolonged for fifteen years.
In this connection the Commission wishes to point out, with special
emphasis, that, under the terms contemplated, both in the letter
transmitted by the Council of Four (which has been taken as the
basis of the present draft) and in the text which has been drawn up,
the fact [Page 381] of imposing upon
the High Commission the duty of promulgating ordinances “to secure
the execution of the Treaty” may give rise to an important extension
of the High Commission’s action. Consequently, the Commission asks
the Council of Four whether this was, in fact, their intention.
As regards the strength of the troops required for the occupation the
military members of the Commission have reported that the present
forty-two divisions may be reduced on the signature of peace to
thirty divisions, which, in their turn, may be reduced to ten
divisions of infantry and two of cavalry, or about 150,000 men, when
the Germans have carried out the disarmament clauses of the Peace
Treaty. The military members think that a further reduction, of
which the extent and the date cannot be determined, may still be
carried out.
The military members, in laying down the above figures, have
especially taken into consideration, among other things, the
maintenance of order, the execution of the treaty, and the necessity
of assuring the defences of the territory in the event of a German
attack.
M. Loucheur (civil member representing France) and M. le Baron de
Gaffier (civil member representing Belgium) feel obliged in this
connection to declare that, in their opinion, the number of the
troops could be considerably diminished from the moment when the
reduction of the German effectives and the disarming of Germany have
been carried out and a satisfactory situation has been brought
about. It appears to them that the strength of the army of
occupation could, when this happens, be reduced to between 80,000
and 100,000 men:
The British delegation expressed the desire that the cost of the army
of occupation should be definitely stated. The French Delegation
considered that to do this did not come within the instructions of
the Commission.
Moreover, M. Loucheur pointed out that, as regards the cost of the
occupation, the method of making the necessary calculations was at
the present moment undergoing revision, and that satisfactory
regulations would very probably be shortly presented to the Council
of Four.
The British, American and Italian Delegates have given their adhesion
to the following text, which is rejected by the French and Belgian
delegations:
“Inasmuch as the success of any plan as that outlined in the
present draft convention can only be determined by
experiment, the Committee unanimously suggests that it might
be desirable to limit the duration of the convention to two
or three years, subject to a new convention being negotiated
at the end of that period, and subject also to an appeal to
the League of Nations, in case of disagreement.”
[Page 382]
Annex I
Draft Convention Regarding the
Military Occupation of the Territories of the Rhine
(Note.—The use of the terms “Allies” and “Allied” throughout this
document must be interpreted to mean “the Allied and Associated
Powers”.)
I. As provided by Section XIV, (Articles 428 et
seq.) of the Treaty dated . . . . . . . . . . , armed
forces of the Allies will continue in occupation of German territory
(as defined by Article 5 of the Armistice Convention of 11th
November, 1918.5 as extended by Article 7 of
the Convention of 16th January 19196), as a guarantee of the
execution by Germany of the Treaty.
No German troops, except prisoners of war in process of repatriation,
shall be admitted to the occupied territories, even in transit; but
police forces of a strength to be determined by the Allied Powers
may be admitted into these territories for the purpose of
maintaining order.
II. There shall be constituted a civilian body styled the
Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission, and hereinafter called “the
Commission”, which, except in so far as the Treaty may otherwise
provide, shall be the supreme representative of the Allies within
the occupied territory. It shall consist of four members
representing Belgium, France, Great Britain and the United
States.
III. (a). So far as may be necessary for
securing the maintenance, safety and requirements of the Allied
forces, and the execution of the Treaty, the Commission shall have
the power to issue ordinances for that purpose. Such ordinances
shall be published under the authority of the Commission, and copies
thereof shall be sent to each of the Allied and Associated
Governments and also to the German Government. When so published
they shall have the force of law and shall be recognised as such by
all the Allied military authorities and by the German civil
authorities.
(b) The members of the Commission shall enjoy
diplomatic privileges and immunities.
(c) The German courts shall continue to
exercise civil and criminal jurisdiction subject to the exceptions
contained in paragraphs (d) and (e) below.
(d) The armed forces of the Allies and the
persons accompanying them, to whom the General Officers Commanding
the Armies of Occupation shall have issued a pass revokable at their
pleasure, and any persons employed by, or in the service of such
troops, shall be [Page 383]
exclusively subject to the military law and jurisdiction of such
forces.
(e) Any person who commits any offence against
the persons or property of the armed forces of the Allies, may be
made amenable to the military jurisdiction of the said forces.
IV. The German authorities, both in the occupied and in the
unoccupied territories, shall, on the demand of any duly authorised
military officer, arrest and hand over to the nearest commander of
Allied troops any person charged with an offence who is amenable
under Clause (d) or Clause (e) of Article III above to the military jurisdiction of
the Allied Forces.
V. The civil administration of the provinces (Provinzen), Government departments (Regierungsbezirke), Urban Circles (Stadtkreise), Rural Circles (Landkreise), and Communes (Gemeinde), shall remain in the hands of the German
authorities. It is understood that the German authorities shall be
obliged, under penalty of removal, to conform to the ordinances
issued in virtue of Article III above.
VI. Subject to the conditions laid down in the Hague Convention,
1907,7 the
right to requisition in kind and to demand services shall be
exercised by the Allied Armies of Occupation.
The charges for the requisitions effected in the zone of each allied
army, and the estimate of damage caused by the troops of occupation,
shall be determined by local Commissions composed both of German
civilians appointed by the German civil authorities, and of Allied
military officers and presided over by some person appointed by the
Commission.
The German Government shall also continue to be responsible for the
cost of maintenance of the troops of occupation under the conditions
fixed by the Treaty.
The German Government shall also be responsible for the costs and
expenses of the Commission, and for its housing. Suitable premises
for the housing of the Commission shall be selected in consultation
with the German Government.
VII. The Allied troops shall continue undisturbed in possession of
any premises at present occupied by them.
VIII (a). The German Government shall
undertake, moreover, to place at the disposal of the Allied troops
and to maintain in good state of repair, all the military
establishments required for the said troops, with the necessary
furniture, heating and lighting, in accordance with the regulations
concerning these matters in force in the [Page 384] various armies concerned. These shall include
accommodation for officers and men, guard-rooms, offices,
administrative, regimental and staff headquarters, workshops,
store-rooms, hospitals, laundries, regimental schools, riding
schools, stables, training grounds and rifle and artillery ranges,
aviation grounds, grazing grounds, warehouses for supplies and
grounds for military manoeuvres, also theatre and cinema premises,
and reasonable facilities for sport and for recreation grounds for
the troops.
(b) In principle, private soldiers and
non-commissioned officers shall be accommodated in barracks, and
shall not be billeted on the inhabitants, except in cases of
emergency.
In the event of the existing military establishments being
insufficient or not being considered suitable, the Allied troops may
take possession of any other public or private establishment with
its personnel, suitable for these purposes, or, if there are no such
suitable premises, they may require the construction of new
barracks.
Civilian and military officers and their families may be billeted on
the inhabitants in accordance with the billeting regulations in
force in each army.
IX. No German taxes or duties will be payable by the Commission, the
Allied armies or their personnel.
Food supplies, arms, clothing, equipment and provisions of all kinds
for the use of the Allied armies, or addressed to the military
authorities, or to the Commission, or to canteens and officers’
messes, shall be transported free of charge and free of all import
duties of any kind.
X. The personnel employed on all means of communication (railways,
railroads and tramways of all kinds, waterways (including the
Rhine), roads and rivers), shall obey any orders given by, or on
behalf of, the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied armies for military
reasons.
All the material and all the civil personnel necessary for the
maintenance and working of all means of communication must be kept
in its entirety on all such means of communication in the occupied
territory.
The transport on the railways of Allied troops or individual soldiers
or officers, on duty or furbished with a warrant, will be effected
without payment.
XI. The Armies of Occupation shall continue to use for military
purposes all existing telegraphic and telephonic installations.
The Armies of Occupation shall also have the right to continue to
instal and use military telegraph and telephone lines, wireless
stations and all other similar means of communication which may
appear to them expedient; for this purpose they may enter upon and
occupy any land, whether public or private.
[Page 385]
The personnel of the public telegraph and telephone services shall
continue to obey the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied
Armies given for military purposes.
Allied telegrams and messages of an official nature shall be entitled
to priority over all other communications and shall be despatched
free of charge. The Allied military authorities shall have the right
to supervise the order in which such communications are
transmitted.
No wireless telegraphy installations shall be allowed to be erected
by the authorities or by the inhabitants of the occupied territory
without previous authorisation.
XII. The personnel of the postal service shall obey any orders given
by or on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies for
military purposes. The public postal service shall continue to be
carried out by the German authorities, but this shall not in any way
affect the retention of the military postal services organised by
the Armies of Occupation, who shall have the right to use all
existing postal routes for military requirements.
The said armies shall have the right to run postal wagons with all
necessary personnel on all existing postal routes.
The German Government shall transmit free of charge and without
examination letters and parcels which may be entrusted to its
post-offices by, or on behalf of, the Armies of Occupation, and
shall be responsible for the value of any letters or parcels
lost.
XIII. The Commission shall have the power, whenever they think it
necessary, to declare a state of siege in any part of the territory
or in the whole of it. Upon such declaration the military
authorities shall have the powers provided in the German Law of . .
. . .
In case of emergency, where public order is disturbed or threatened
in any district, the local military authorities shall have the power
to take such measures as may be necessary for restoring order. In
such case the military authorities shall report the facts to the
Commission.
Annex 2
Memorandum Defining the Relations
Between the Allied Military Authorities and the Inter-Allied
Rhineland High Commission
- 1.
- Each High Commissioner is directly responsible to his
Government, but economic questions will be referred to the
Supreme Economic Council as long as that body exists.
- 2.
- The ordinances of the High Commission are to be communicated
to the Commanders of armies by, or on behalf of, the Allied High
Command.
- 3.
- Whenever the High Commission has occasion to publish
ordinances affecting the interests of the occupying armies, in
respect of which the initiative does not come from the military
authorities, the [Page 386] High
Commission shall consult the military authorities
beforehand.
- 4.
- Communications between the High Commission and the various
military authorities will always take place through the channel
of the Allied High Command.
- 5.
- All commissions or officials actually existing or who may be
appointed, who deal with matters affecting the civil
administration or the economic life of the occupied territory
shall, if they are retained, be placed under the authority of
the High Commission.
- 6
- (a). The French member of the High
Commission shall be president thereof.
- (b) The decisions of the High
Commission shall be reached by a majority of votes.
- (c) Each High Commissioner shall have
an equal vote. But in case of an equality of votes the President
shall have the right to give a casting vote.
- (d) In either of these two cases the
dissenting High Commissioner, or High Commissioners, may appeal
to their Governments. But such an appeal shall not, in cases of
urgency, delay the putting into execution of the decisions
taken, which shall then be carried out under the responsibility
of the members voting for the decisions.
Annex III
8
[Translation]
Remarks of Marshal Foch
The proposed High Commission will, it is thought, relax the severity
of the military regime, that is, the maintenance of a state of
siege, in the occupied regions.
This new institution calls for several observations.
I
Under the military regime, in a state of siege, the military
authority maintains the laws and regulations of the occupied country
and insures their enforcement, in collaboration with the civil
authorities of the country, with the exception that some of these
authorities are temporarily dispossessed of some of their powers,
enumerated in the law promulgating the state of siege.
The military authority is not empowered to enact new laws and
regulations of a general character. Therefore, the country continues
to live under its own legislation, applied by its own
administration.
[Page 387]
The military authority is responsible for public order and the
maintenance of the police. The use of troops is therefore regulated
in a permanent way for all circumstances that may supervene. Thus
the military authority, which has at the same time the means of
information and execution and the power of decision, insures the
maintenance of order, knowing the situation, by its contact and
understanding with the local civil authorities.
II
The institution of the High Commission tends to avoid the state of
siege. This High Commission has the power of issuing decrees which
have the force of laws, to meet the military necessities and even to
insure the execution of the Treaty. These decrees must be recognized
by the German civil authorities, as well as by the Allied military
authorities. In this respect they really constitute a legislation
above that of the occupied country. They are the manifestation of a
Government superior to that of the country. This right is not
conferred on the military authority by the state of siege, this
authority having only the negative right of suspending certain
existing laws of the country, but not that of promulgating any new
ones.
The High Commission, which on account of its legislative power has
become a Government superior to that of the country, can exercise
this power in any direction, without thus being in a position to
manage the various domains, economic, financial, industrial, etc.,
of the occupied country, according to the activities of the members
composing it. The nature of the occupation may therefore be very
deeply modified by this fact.
On the other hand, so long as the state of siege is not proclaimed
the German civil authority alone remains responsible for public
order and security. If it becomes necessary to use force, it can
only appeal to the Allied troops. These troops would therefore enter
into action upon the request of the Prussian authorities, which is
inadmissible.
But should the troops decide to act regardless, in what unknown and
therefore perilous situation will they find themselves, since they
do not command the police, which alone could enlighten them?
Especially in case of strikes more or less complicated by political
factors, what difficulties will they meet, being thus uncertain of
the interests involved. A minute legislation is not always
sufficient to solve difficulties in our own country, where there is
complete accord between the military and civil authorities. What
then must be feared in a German country, between a Prussian civil
authority and a French, British, American or Belgian military
authority, with an improvised legislation, therefore incomplete, and
new to every one?
Therefore the High Commission in practice seems to be able to
maintain public order only by the maintenance of the state of
siege.
[Page 388]
Even vested with an indisputable power from the Government, it is
disarmed in case of trouble, because it has to command at the same
time the Allied armies of various nations and the German civil
authorities, enemies of yesterday. Once more the multiplicity of the
directing organs, because of their intricacy, runs the risk of
leading to impotence and anarchy.
At a time when we are talking of reducing the cost of the occupation,
shall we not achieve the opposite result by giving to this
occupation a new head, whose civil list has not yet been drawn up
and which may run very high, at the expense of an occupied
population that does not ask for its creation?
III
In my opinion the High Commission does not seem to meet the
expectations formed concerning it.
I propose to return to the principles of the German occupation of
1871.
Note of Marshal Foch
Part II
In the first part of the Marshal’s note an attempt has been made to
show that the High Commission created by the Draft of Convention
would form, owing to the lawmaking power it possessed, a
super-government, which may not have entered the intentions of the
Supreme Council; that this government, notwithstanding its very wide
powers, would find it difficult to regulate the relations between
the German civil authorities and the Allied military authorities
without maintaining the state of siege; and that especially the
maintenance of public order and security would be insecure.
In the second part below it is shown that the application of the
proposed memorandum would allow this commission to assume unlimited
executive powers, which might paralyze the command of the Allied
troops, even in the exercise of this command over these troops.
It says, in fact (Article V):
“The commissions or officials at present existing or about to
be created, and in charge of matters concerning civil
administration or economic life, will, if they are
maintained, be placed under the authority of the High
Commission.”
Now, whatever be the administrative regime of a country, the troops
have their own needs to satisfy, and deal therefore through certain
services with the civil administration or the civilian elements of
the country. Thus the Interallied Commission on Military Railways
insures the execution, through the administration of German [Page 389] Railways, of the transport
of troops and their supply, according to instructions received from
the Command. It is thus that the officers of the Quartermaster Corps
buy forage and food and other necessities from the civilian elements
of the country, and according to instructions received from the
Command, etc. This Commission and its officials are the Command’s
executive organs.
On the day that the above Article goes into force, they will be
placed under the jurisdiction of the civil High Command, which will
take over the executive organs of the Command.
The result is that the Command, by the application of the memorandum,
finds itself deprived of the means of exercising its functions.
Hence Article V of the memorandum should be omitted. If it is kept,
it is at least necessary to limit its scope by the enumeration of
the Commissions and officials that will be placed under the orders
of the High Commission.
If, in spite of the considerations of a general and particular nature
developed in the first and second parts of this note, the projected
organization of the High Commission is realized, the result will be
a Command deprived of its power of decision and its executive means,
whose existence will be difficult to justify.
Appendix II to CF–64
WCP–993
Convention Regarding the Military
Occupation of the Territories of the Rhine
Approved by the Council of the Principal Allied and
Associated Powers on June 13th, 1919
(Note:—The use of the terms “Allies” and
“Allied” throughout this document must be interpreted to mean “the
Allied and Associated Powers”.)
I. As provided by Section XIV, (Articles 428 et
seq.) of the Treaty dated . . . . . . . . . . , armed
forces of the Allies will continue in occupation of German territory
(as defined by Article 5 of the Armistice Convention of 11th
November, 1918,9 as extended by Article 7 of
the Convention of 16th January 191910), as a guarantee of the
execution by Germany of the Treaty.
No German troops, except prisoners of war in process of repatriation,
shall be admitted to the occupied territories, even in transit; but
police forces of a strength to be determined by the Allied Powers
may [Page 390] be maintained in these
territories for the purpose of maintaining order.
II. There shall be constituted a civilian body styled the
Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission, and hereinafter called “the
High Commission” which, except in so far as the Treaty may otherwise
provide, shall be the supreme representative of the Allies within
the occupied territory. It shall consist of four members
representing Belgium, France, Great Britain and the United
States.
III (a). So far as may be necessary for
securing the maintenance, safety and requirements of the Allied
forces, the High Commission shall have the power to issue ordinances
for that purpose. Such ordinances shall be published under the
authority of the High Commission, and copies thereof shall be sent
to each of the Allied and Associated Governments and also to the
German Government. When so published they shall have the force of
law and shall be recognised as such by all the Allied military
authorities and by the German civil authorities.
(b) The members of the High Commission shall
enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities.
(c) The German courts shall continue to
exercise civil and criminal jurisdiction subject to the exceptions
contained in paragraphs (d) and (e) below.
(d) The armed forces of the Allies and the
persons accompanying them, to whom the General Officers commanding
the Armies of Occupation shall have issued a pass revokable at their
pleasure, and any persons employed by, or in the service of such
troops, shall be exclusively subject to the military law and
jurisdiction of such forces.
(e) Any person who commits any offence against
the persons or property of the armed forces of the Allies, may be
made amenable to the military jurisdiction of the said forces.
IV. The German authorities, both in the occupied and in the
unoccupied territories, shall, on the demand of any duly authorised
military officer of the occupying forces, arrest and hand over to
the nearest commander of Allied troops any person charged with an
offence who is amenable under Clause (d) or
Clause (e) of Article III above to the
military jurisdiction of the Allied Forces.
V. The civil administration of the provinces (Provinzen), Government departments (Regierungsbezirke), Urban Circles (Stadtkreise), Rural Circles (Landkreise), and Communes (Gemeinde), shall remain in the hands of the German
authorities, and the civil administration of these areas shall
continue under German Law and under the authority of the Central
German Government except in so far as it may be necessary for the
High Commission by Ordinance under Article III to accommodate that
administration to the needs [Page 391] and circumstances of military occupation. It is understood that
the German authorities shall be obliged, under penalty of removal,
to conform to the ordinances issued in virtue of Article III
above.
VI. Subject to the conditions laid down in the Hague Convention,
1907, the right to requisition in kind and to demand services shall
be exercised by the Allied Armies of Occupation.
The charges for the requisitions effected in the zone of each allied
army, and the estimate of damage caused by the troops of
occupations, shall be determined by local Commissions composed in
equal representation of both German civilians appointed by the
German civil authorities and Allied military officers and presided
over by some person appointed by the High Commission.
The German Government shall also continue to be responsible for the
cost of maintenance of the troops of occupation under the conditions
fixed by the Treaty.
The German Government shall also be responsible for the costs and
expenses of the High Commission, and for its housing. Suitable
premises for the housing of the High Commission shall be selected in
consultation with the German Government.
VII. The Allied troops shall continue undisturbed in possession of
any premises at present occupied by them, subject to the provision
of Art. VIII (b) below.
VIII (a). The German Government shall
undertake, moreover, to place at the disposal of the Allied troops
and to maintain in good state of repair, all the military
establishments required for the said troops, with the necessary
furniture, heating and lighting, in accordance with the regulations
concerning these matters in force in the various armies concerned.
These shall include accommodation for officers and men, guard-rooms,
offices, administrative, regimental and staff headquarters,
workshops, store-rooms, hospitals, laundries, regimental schools,
riding schools, stables, training grounds and rifle and artillery
ranges, aviation grounds, grazing grounds, warehouses for supplies
and grounds for military manoeuvres, also theatre and cinema
premises, and reasonable facilities for sport and for recreation
grounds for the troops.
(b) Private soldiers and non-commissioned
officers shall be accommodated in barracks, and shall not be
billeted on the inhabitants, except in cases of exceptional
emergency.
In the event of the existing military establishments being
insufficient or not being considered suitable, the Allied troops may
take possession of any other public or private establishment with
its personnel, suitable for these purposes, or, if there are no such
suitable premises, they may require the construction of new
barracks.
Civilian and military officers and their families may be billeted [Page 392] on the inhabitants in
accordance with the billeting regulations in force in each army.
IX. No German direct taxes or duties will be payable by the High
Commission, the Allied armies or their personnel.
Food supplies, arms, clothing, equipment and provisions of all kinds
for the use of the Allied armies, or addressed to the military
authorities, or to the High Commission, or to canteens and officers’
messes, shall be transported free of charge and free of all import
duties of any kind.
X. The personnel employed on all means of communication (railways,
railroads and tramways of all kinds, waterways (including the
Rhine), roads and rivers, shall obey any orders given by, or on
behalf of, the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied armies for military
purposes.
All the material and all the civil personnel necessary for the
maintenance and working of all means of communication must be kept
in its entirety on all such means of communication in the occupied
territory.
The transport on the railways of Allied troops or individual soldiers
or officers, on duty or furnished with a warrant, will be effected
without payment.
XI. The Armies of Occupation may continue to use for military
purposes all existing telegraphic and telephonic installations.
The Armies of Occupation shall also have the right to continue to
instal and use military telegraph and telephone lines, wireless
stations and all other similar means of communication which may
appear to them expedient; for this purpose, subject to the approval
of the High Commission, they may enter upon and occupy any land,
whether public or private.
The personnel of the public telegraph and telephone services shall
continue to obey the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied
Armies given for military purposes.
Allied telegrams and messages of an official nature shall be entitled
to priority over all other communications and shall be despatched
free of charge. The Allied military authorities shall have the right
to supervise the order in which such communications are
transmitted.
No wireless telegraphy installations shall be allowed to be erected
by the authorities or by the inhabitants of the occupied territory
without previous authorisation by the Allied military
authorities.
XII. The personnel of the postal service shall obey any orders given
by or on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies for
military purposes. The public postal service shall continue to be
carried out by the German authorities, but this shall not in any way
affect the retention of the military postal services organised by
the [Page 393] Armies of Occupation,
who shall have the right to use all existing postal routes for
military requirements.
The said armies shall have the right to run postal wagons with all
necessary personnel on all existing postal routes.
The German Government shall transmit free of charge and without
examination letters and parcels which may be entrusted to its
post-offices by, or on behalf of the Armies of Occupation or of the
High Commission; and shall be responsible for the value of any
letters or parcels lost.
XIII. The High Commission shall have the power, whenever they think
it necessary, to declare a state of siege in any part of the
territory or in the whole of it. Upon such declaration the military
authorities shall have the powers provided in the German Imperial
Law of May 30th, 1892. In case of emergency, where public order is
disturbed or threatened in any district, the local military
authorities shall have the power to take such temporary measures as
may be necessary for restoring order. In such case the military
authorities shall report the facts to the High Commission.
Appendix III to CF–64
Memorandum Defining the Relations
Between the Allied Military Authorities and the Inter-Allied
Rhineland High Commission
(Approved by the Council of the Principal
Allied and Associated Powers on 13th June, 1919)
- 1.
- Each High Commissioner is directly responsible to his
Government, economic questions being first referred by the High
Commissioner to the Supreme Economic Council as long as that
body exists.
- 2.
- The ordinances of the High Commission are to be communicated
to the Commanders of Armies by, or on behalf of, the Allied High
Command.
- 3.
- Whenever the High Commission has occasion to publish
ordinances affecting the interests of the occupying armies, in
respect of which the initiative does not come from the military
authorities, the High Commission shall consult the military
authorities beforehand.
- 4.
- Communications between the High Commission and the various
military authorities will always take place through the channel
of the Allied High Command.
- 5.
- All civil commissions or officials already appointed or to be
appointed by any one or more of the Allied and Associated Powers
who deal with matters affecting the civil administration or the
economic life of the civilian population in the occupied
territory shall, if they are retained, be placed under the
authority of the High Commission.
- 6.
- (a) The appointment of each High
Commissioner shall be subject to the approval of all the Allied
and Associated Governments represented.
- (b) The French member of the High
Commission shall be president thereof.
- (c) The decisions of the High
Commission shall be reached by a majority of votes.
- (d) Each High Commissioner shall have
one vote. But in case of an equality of votes the President
shall have the right to give a casting vote.
- (e) In either of these two cases the
dissenting High Commissioner, or High Commissioners, may appeal
to their governments. But such an appeal shall not, in cases of
urgency, delay the putting into execution of the decisions
taken, which shall then be carried out under the responsibility
of the members voting for the decisions.
- 7.
- In issuing decrees and proclamations or otherwise interfering
with Civil Administration under a state of siege, the
Commander-in-Chief shall continue to act in consultation with,
and only after approval by the High Commission. This shall of
course not apply to action of a purely military nature.
