Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, General, Volume I

740.00119 EAC/1–644

Memorandum by the Working Security Committee⁴⁰

WS–10a

[Washington,] January 6, 1944.

Provisions for Imposition Upon Germany at Time of Surrender

(Revised)

The provisions outlined below, which are deemed essential to the assurance of security and which have important political implications, are here recommended for imposition upon Germany at the time of her surrender. They are intended to be imposed at the will of the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the U.S.S.R., acting in the interests of the United Nations, Germany having no free choice of assenting or dissenting. As used in this document, the word “Germany” means, wherever applicable, whatever central government is in existence, as well as all provincial, local, and lesser governmental organs, agencies and officials.

1. The Signatories. The instrument providing for the termination of hostilities should be signed by the Supreme Allied Commander and the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet forces, by the Chief of the High Command of the German Armed Forces or his representative, and, if possible, by an authorized civilian official representing the German Government.

2. Unconditional Surrender. The German Government and the German High Command should be required to acknowledge the total defeat and the unconditional surrender of Germany’s armed forces and to agree to submit to such terms and faithfully to execute such duties as may be imposed upon them by the occupation authorities.

3. Additional Provisions to be Imposed upon Germany. The occupation authorities should be authorized to impose, in addition to the terms stipulated at the time of surrender, such terms as they may from time to time deem necessary or appropriate.

4. Occupation Organs. Germany should be obligated to cooperate with and submit to the regulations and orders of such enforcement agencies as the Supreme Allied Commander and the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet forces may establish for the military government of occupied Germany and for the execution of the surrender terms.

5. Evacuation of Occupied Territories. German armed forces should be withdrawn from all areas other than territory held by Germany on January 1, 1938, their withdrawal to be carried out according to a schedule laid down by the occupation authorities. German officials in such areas, except those whose continued presence is desired by the occupation authorities, should likewise be withdrawn. Individuals or units in such areas may be designated to be held as prisoners of war.

6. Demobilization and Disarmament. German land, sea and air forces, including armed quasi-police forces, but excluding such civil police as may be approved by the Supreme Allied Commander and the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Forces, should be completely demobilized and the German General Staff abolished. Demobilization should be carried out under the direction of the occupation authorities with as much consideration for internal order and social stability as is consistent with military security. All German forces should be disarmed immediately under the direction of the occupation authorities. The movement and location of German troops within Germany, pending demobilization, should be subject to the direction of the occupation authorities. A permanent audit and inspection system should be established and maintained and there should be continuous and unhampered inspection by the occupation authorities of all areas and installations which are or might be used for the production of war materials, for the conduct of military staff work, or for military training.

7. Surrender of Materials of War. The further production of arms, ammunition and implements of war should be prohibited, except as it may be deemed desirable by the occupation authorities that it be continued. All arms, ammunition, and implements of war should be delivered, and all installations, facilities and services necessary or desirable for the full utilization thereof should be made available, to the occupation authorities for such disposition as they may wish to make of them, except that Germany should be permitted to retain such limited quantities of arms and ammunition as may be designated for internal police purposes by the occupation authorities. Lists of such materials and their locations, as well as of fortifications, mine fields, war production plants, etc., should be turned over to the occupation authorities. The German authorities should be required to prevent the destruction of such materials and installations until ordered to deliver, destroy, or otherwise dispose of them.

8. Occupation. The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, acting in the interests of the United Nations, should have the right to occupy, with any forces at their disposal and in any way they deem necessary, and to utilize in any way they may deem appropriate, any or all parts of Germany and to exercise throughout the country all the rights of an occupying power as well as the other rights arising under the instrument of surrender. For political purposes Berlin and other principal cities to be designated should be occupied, at least temporarily. No time limit for the period of general occupation should be stated.

9. Archives. Germany should be required to preserve and make available to the occupation authorities all public and private archives, archival staffs, records, files, documents and information as those authorities may require.

10. Communications, Transport and Power. Germany should be required to place at the disposal of the occupation authorities, for such use and disposition as they may determine, all facilities for communication and transportation and for the generation, transmission and distribution of power, including establishments for the manufacture and repair of such facilities. It should be required to protect and maintain as efficiently as possible all such facilities and to inform the occupation authorities concerning them.

10a. Control of Press, Radio and Mail. The utilization of press, radio, mail, and similar instruments of dissemination of information should be made subject to such controls and supervision as may be imposed by occupation forces in the interests of military security and peace and order.

10b. Merchant Shipping. All merchant tonnage, including yachts and miscellaneous craft, wherever located, of German ownership or operated under or subject to German control (including ships which may be under foreign control but subject to recall by right of option, in which case such option shall be promptly exercised and the return of the vessels facilitated by the German Government), shall be immediately turned over to the occupation authorities acting in the interests of the United Nations, this action to be taken without prejudice to the ultimate disposition of such vessels.

10c. Prize Courts and Vessels. Neither Germany nor her nationals should be permitted to file or maintain any claim of any description against the United Nations or any national thereof in respect of the seizure, condemnation, appropriation, detention, employment, loss or damage, limited or otherwise, of any German ships or boats, whether arising under Prize Court proceedings or otherwise. Also, all pending German Prize Court proceedings should be suspended and terminated immediately, and neither Germany nor her nationals should be permitted to file or maintain any claim of any description for loss of or for damage to vessels or cargoes sunk by or in consequence of naval action and subsequently salved, in which any of the United Nations or their nationals may have had any interest either as owners, charterers, insurers or otherwise, notwithstanding any decree of condemnation which may have been made by a Prize Court of Germany or of any of the Axis powers. Nothing contained in this paragraph should be construed to imply the admissibility of any other types of claim on the part of Germany or of German nationals.

11. United Nations Nationals and Other Nationals in Custody. Germany should be required to safeguard and care for all nationals and members of the armed forces of the United Nations held as prisoners of war or in other custody and to deliver or liberate them as directed by the occupation authorities. Comparable provisions should be made for the safeguarding and care of the nationals and members of armed forces of states other than the United Nations held as prisoners of war or in other custody by Germany.

12. The Protection of Foreigners. Germany should be required to assume special responsibility for the care of foreign nationals and their property within Germany.

13. War Criminals. Germany should be obligated to hold in custody and to deliver to the occupation authorities all persons of German nationality and other persons within Germany or subject to German jurisdiction charged with having committed war crimes. Such persons should be delivered whether they are specified by name or by the rank, office of employment which they held in the German armed forces, the German Government, or other German organizations or agencies, at the time of the alleged crime. Germany should be required to cooperate in the trial and punishment of the persons delivered under this obligation and of any persons of like category held by the United Nations as prisoners of war at the time of surrender of Germany, through the production of records, the collection of evidence, the enactment of legislation, and any other steps necessary to facilitate such trial and punishment.

14. Control of the Movement of Persons. German nationals should not be permitted to leave or enter Germany without authorization from the occupation authorities. Germany should be obligated to deliver, as directed by the occupation authorities, persons who are nationals of any state at war with any of the United Nations or the nationals of countries occupied by such belligerent states.

15. Commercial and Financial Transactions. Germany should be obligated to take such measures as the occupation authorities may require to control both foreign and domestic commerce, exchange, finance and all other types of economic activity carried on in Germany or by German nationals.

16. Information and Possible Action Regarding Property. Germany, pending further directions from the occupation authorities, should be required to take all necessary measures to safeguard, maintain and prevent the dissipation of all property removed from territory which has been under German occupation or control; and all property in Germany belonging to, or seized, confiscated or transferred under duress from, the governments or nationals of the United Nations, or the governments or nationals of other states whose territories have been occupied by Germany; and such other property as the occupation authorities may specify. Germany should be required not to dispose or allow the disposal of property outside its territory, whether of the German State, or political subdivisions thereof, of the National Socialist Party, of German public or private institutions or organizations, or of persons resident in Germany, except with the permission or at the direction of the occupation authorities.

Germany should be required to take any measures concerning the disposition of all such property that the occupation authorities may require.

Germany should be required to furnish such information concerning property, rights and interests, and transactions or agreements with regard thereto, as the occupation authorities may require.

17. Reparation. Germany should be obligated to make such reparation and restitution as the United Nations may require and to comply with such directions as may from time to time be prescribed by the occupation authorities acting in the interests of the United Nations.

18. National Socialist Organizations. All National Socialist organizations, and such other organizations as may be regarded as a threat to the security of the occupation forces or to international peace, should be disbanded. Such parts of these organizations as it may seem desirable may be retained or converted for the purpose of performing economic or social functions. The formation of new organizations, designed to replace any which may be disbanded for the reasons stated above, or whose existence may be regarded as a threat to the security of the occupation forces or to international peace, should be prohibited.

19. Discriminatory Laws. All German laws discriminating against persons on grounds of race, color, creed, or political opinion should be suspended immediately and appropriate steps taken to effect their annulment.

20. Review of Cases of Persons Detained. All cases of persons held in custody or restrained or restricted under any German law, administrative order, or otherwise, should be subject to review in accordance with principles and procedures laid down by the occupation authorities, in order that those unjustly or illegally held may be released and relieved of any legal disability arising from their detention.

21. Maintenance of Law and Order. Subject to the paramount rights and power of the occupation authorities, the German Government should be obligated to maintain law and order in Germany. German governmental agencies should be required to keep their services intact and to perform their functions subject to the control of the occupation authorities and to the rights of these authorities to abolish or reform such agencies.

22. German Diplomatic Relations. Until otherwise determined the conduct of the diplomatic relations of Germany should be subject to the direction and control of the occupation authorities.

23. Cultural Agencies. The conduct of educational and other cultural agencies should be subject to the general supervision of the occupation authorities.

24. Economic Reconstruction. Germany should be required to assist and cooperate with the United Nations in such measures for relief, rehabilitation, and economic reconstruction as the United Nations may decide to undertake.

25. Cooperation in Peace Measures. Germany should be required to render such assistance, other than the provision of armed forces, as the United Nations may require for the furtherance of the measures for the maintenance of international peace and security taken by the United Nations.

26. Costs of Occupation. Germany should be obligated to bear the costs of occupation.

27. Duration and Enforcement of Instrument of Surrender. The instrument of surrender should continue in force until its termination by agreement among the United Nations. The governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, acting in the interests of the United Nations, should reserve full freedom of action in case Germany’s obligations under the terms of surrender are not fulfilled.

Prepared and reviewed in the Working Security Committee:

Lieut. Col. E. P. Allen,  Civil Affairs Division,  War Department	Lieut. Comdr. Willis Sargent,  Naval Office for Occupied  Areas
James W. Riddleberger, Division of European Affairs
Henry P. Leverich, Division of European Affairs
Leroy D. Stinebower, Division of Economic Studies
D. C. Blaisdell (drafting officer) Division of Political Studies
David Harris, Division of Political Studies
Philip E. Mosely, Division of Political Studies

40. Circulated in the European Advisory Commission as a memorandum by the United States Representative (Winant), numbered E.A.C. (44) 4, dated January 25, 1944, copy of which was transmitted to the Department in despatch 13540, January 27, from London; received February 8.