740.00119 EAC/22
Memorandum by the Adviser on Political Relations (Dunn) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary: Reference: Mr. Winant’s telegram no. 8837 of December 20, 3 p.m.,46 suggesting that the agreement with the Norwegian Government for civilian administration and jurisdiction in [Page 816] Norwegian territory liberated by Allied forces be submitted to the European Advisory Commission.
It is our view that an arrangement or agreement of this kind should not be submitted to the European Advisory Commission. It should be transmitted to the Soviet Government for its information either through Washington or Moscow, but it does not appear to be a matter on which we would want discussion to take place and recommendations to be made by the European Advisory Commission. It is a straight-out agreement as to the respective jurisdiction of our armed forces and the Norwegian Government in Norwegian territory.
The British Embassy here has said that at Moscow Mr. Eden specifically mentioned pending arrangements which the British had negotiated with the Belgian and Norwegian Governments as the type of problems he had in mind in connection with liberated areas, and that the British report of the Moscow proceedings indicate that you were in accord that this type of problem should be referred to that Commission along with the proposed Liberated Areas Declaration and the French Civil Affairs paper.
Our report of the minutes of the Conference contained no record of Mr. Eden having mentioned these papers at the meeting, nor do I recall his so doing myself. I feel sure that when the question of the liberated areas was brought up, from the report of your statement as recorded in our minutes of the meeting, you only had in mind referring to the European Advisory Commission the discussion of the statement on liberated areas which was agreed to at Quebec,47 together with the British version of such a statement which they presented at Moscow. I feel sure that you did not have in mind that any of these other subsidiary questions should be brought within the jurisdiction of the European Advisory Commission. I think in order to limit that Commission’s activities we should keep out of their deliberations all matters not connected with the terms of surrender and the occupation and control of Germany after the surrender.
Furthermore, we never had had this Norwegian or any of these other refugee agreements referred to us for any consideration by the British or the refugee governments until very recently.
We have, therefore, drafted the attached telegram to Ambassador Winant48 to clear up this current misunderstanding as to the terms of reference of the European Advisory Commission.
- Not printed; in it the Ambassador mentioned that William Strang of the British Foreign Office had told him that the British Embassy in Washington had been instructed to communicate with the Department in regard to the subject noted.↩
- For the text of this statement, which had been agreed upon at the First Quebec Conference on August 22, 1943, see telegram No. 799, September 4, 10 p.m., to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union, p. 517.↩
- Infra. ↩