Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, The Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference), 1945, Volume II

Truman Papers

Cohen Notes

Potsdam, August 1, 1945, 4 p.m.

Truman: I ask for the reading of the Committee’s report on reparations.¹

Byrnes: At the meeting of the Foreign section [Secretaries] this morning, many questions were considered which might be taken up here one by one.

First is reparations. The Committee reported no agreement on text for the protocol. The United States and British representatives consider that in return for the capital equipment allocated the Soviets, the Soviets have agreed to refrain from asserting claim to gold, industrial shares and foreign assets. Therefore, they maintain that German external assets should be included as a source of reparations for countries other than Russia and Poland. They took the view that unless this was done the percentages would be unacceptable. The Soviet representatives consider that the Soviets had not relinquished claim to German external assets. The American and British representatives agreed to the balance of the report with the reservation that the Soviets must relinquish their claim to foreign assets.

Stalin: The question which must be made clear is, what is meant by the western zones. The Soviets agree not to claim anything from the western zones.

Truman: The zones occupied by America, Britain and France are the western zones.

Stalin: We don’t claim gold. As to shares in foreign investments everything west of the military demarcation line is relinquished by us. Everything east of the line should go to us.

Truman: That implies [appliesf] only to German investments east of the line.

Stalin: For example, German investments in Rumania and Bulgaria.

Attlee: I agree.

Bevin: Greece belongs to the British.

Stalin: Austria is divided into parts—how shall we deal with those.

Bevin: You better give it to us.

Stalin: You want all of Austria? You can have part of Austria and Yugoslavia.

Byrnes: What is the status of the investments in Germany?

Stalin: The shares of enterprises in our zone are at our disposal and those in your zone at yours.

Byrnes: Suppose Berlin companies own assets in our sphere, those assets should go to us.

Stalin: If property is in your zone it would be yours whether it is in United States, Norway, Sweden or Honduras.

Bevin: This is going back on what we agreed yesterday. Would you, Marshal, renounce all claims outside zones occupied by the Russian Army.

Stalin: We only ask for the property from Finland east as far as Austria.

Bevin: It is clear that assets owned by Americans and British in these zones would not be affected.

Stalin: We are not at war with Great Britain.

Truman: We are supposed to settle with Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia in regard to their reparations claim. These countries will, of course, claim German assets within their jurisdiction.

Stalin: Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and western Austria are in your zone.

Truman: We agree.

Stalin: Should the agreement go into the protocol? Need it be published in the communiqué?

Byrnes: We think it should go into the protocol and also [be] published in the communiqué. The committee reports should make it clear that other countries are to be satisfied from western zones and from external assets.

Stalin: From the respective external assets.

Byrnes: The committee should be asked to add appropriate language to cover this.

Stalin: Does Secretary Byrnes object to the words “respective assets” in paragraph 3?

Byrnes: Appropriate assets might do better, but I suggest that the committee fix up the language.

Stalin: All right.

Bevin: The French Government should be invited to become a member of the Reparation Committee.²

Stalin: Why should we not invite Poland?

Truman: I don’t see the reason for bringing in others.

Stalin: If the British insist on France we will not object.

Attlee: We have an agreement regarding the feeding and fueling of Berlin for the next 30 days. I suggest that we instruct the Control Commission to provide a program to provide uniform subsistence standards for the next six months. This is a practical matter which requires immediate action.

Stalin: That is a new question. It has not been studied. I do not think it will be possible in the near future to have a high standard of life in Germany. We must first ask the Control Council how they will provide for Berlin needs. We can not come to any decision now.

Attlee: I am not asking for figures, I am asking for the Control Commission to draw up a program. We understood that you wanted capital goods from the Ruhr. We want the flow of goods from the other way also.

Stalin: I want the report of the Control Council first.

Attlee: But you are asking for advance deliveries.

Stalin: What can I do if I am not ready to take a decision.

Bevin: We will postpone it.

Attlee: There is one other point. The Generalissimo said that Austria should not be called upon for reparation. Is this a firm decision for the protocol?

Stalin: Yes, you can put it in the protocol.

Byrnes: With regard to German external assets, the United States and Britain recommend that steps be taken to control German external assets in nations not part of the United Nations which have taken active part in the war against Germany. This paper was circulated a few days ago.

Stalin: I learned of this only after we agreed on reparations.

Byrnes: The committee failed to agree on paragraph 19 of the economic principles and on the problem of oil supplies to western Europe.

Molotov: We will accept the British draft on paragraph 19.

Byrnes: I believe it was understood that if Article [paragraph] 19 proposed by the British is accepted there should be added a clause at the end indicating that it is not to apply to stipulated deliveries to the Russians from the western zones.

The next subject discussed by the Foreign section [Secretaries] was war criminals. Should the prominent prisoners be referred [to] by names. British and American representatives believe that the naming of defendants should be left to the prosecutors. Soviets accepted the British draft as to language, but wished to add some names.

Stalin: Names are necessary and are very important to give proper orientation. The people should know that we are going to try some industrialists, that is why we mentioned Krupp.

Truman: I don’t like any of it. If you name some, others will think they have escaped.

Stalin: People wonder about Hess living comfortably in England.

Attlee: You need not worry about that.

Stalin: I want advance delivery. We should satisfy public opinion.

Truman: We have appointed a judge of our highest court, an able lawyer to work on these problems for us. He is very strongly opposed to giving names in advance. But the Marshal need have no doubt as to our attitude with regard to the prosecution of these men.

Stalin: We will be satisfied with three names.

Attlee: Our lawyers take the same view that the Americans do.

Stalin: Our lawyers differ, perhaps you will mention that the first ten principal defendants to be tried will be named within thirty days.

It was so agreed.

Byrnes: On the subject of inland waterways, the Soviet delegation wanted more time.

Stalin: We are ready. We are favorably inclined and we will discuss it tonight.

Byrnes: The economic principles for Germany and the problem of oil for western Europe were being considered by our respective committees, to which they had been referred,³ with regard to the Soviet proposal that action had been taken by the British and Americans in their zones to stop Fascist activity being carried on in Germany and Austria against the Soviets. The British and Americans agreed to make an investigation and to act if the results of their investigation so warrant it. The Soviet Foreign Minister also brought up the matter of the repatriation of Soviet Citizens. The British promised to investigate this problem as it primarily related to their zone. The Foreign section [Secretaries] also considered four disputes referred to them by the Protocol Committee and settle [settled these?] disputes. They instructed the Protocol Committee that only important decisions should go into the protocol. It was agreed that Rumanian oil investigation procedure should be included in the protocol. The Foreign section [Secretaries] agreed on a paper concerning a revision of the Control Commission’s procedures in Bulgaria, Rumania and Hungary. The Committee’s draft was agreed to with an amendment substituting for one sentence in the Committee’s report.⁴ The new agreement for improved procedures for the Control Commission in Hungary. That is, it was agreed that the Hungarian agreement should be basis for the improved machinery in all three countries.

Truman: Is the report of the Foreign section [Secretaries] on this point satisfactory?

Attlee: Yes.

Stalin: No objection.

Truman: The President of the National Council of Poland and three delegates called on me this morning and I informed them of our decision of the provisional frontier of western Poland. They asked me to convey the thanks of the Polish Government to all three governments.

Bevin: I am also happy to announce that the London-Warsaw air communication has been satisfactorily arranged.

Byrnes: The next question considered by the Foreign section [Secretaries] was the question whether we should add in two of our papers where we referred to representatives of Allied President [press], the words “and radio”.

Stalin: I don’t think it would be advisable to mention radio.

Attlee: I also think it would not be advisable.

Truman: Our radio is not government owned or controlled. It is set up on the same basis as newspapers. I don’t think there should be any discrimination.

Stalin: I don’t think it is advisable to go into the matter of radio.

Truman: The radio reporters report only to the United States.

Stalin: It is not advisable for us to go into this.

Bevin: You would have no objection to arrangements between the governments?

Stalin: No.

Byrnes: The next question discussed by the Foreign section [Secretaries] was the distribution of the German merchant marine.

The Committee report was agreed to.

It was also agreed that a joint statement should be published later by the three governments.

Bevin: I have drafted a clause relating to Poland’s participation in the distribution.

It was accepted.

Byrnes: That disposes of the questions considered by the Foreign section [Secretaries], There are some matters still in the hands of the Committee.

Truman: I suggest a short adjournment of ten minutes.

Attlee: Before we should adjourn, I should like to suggest that the conference send a message to Mr. Churchill and Mr. Eden thanking them for their part in its deliberation.

It was so agreed, and Mr. Attlee was asked to draft the messages.

A short adjournment was taken.

Byrnes: May I ask if Mr. Molotov has had a chance to read our paper on Allied property in the satellite states?

Molotov: I can do it only in the evening. If that is not possible, we must dispose of it through diplomatic channel.

Byrnes: I hope that Mr. Molotov may have a chance to read the document before this evening. We will have to have an evening session in any event and I hope very much that we can agree to this paper here.

Molotov: I see no difficulty in substance, but the wording of the paper must be exact.

Byrnes: We will try to make the wording exact by night.

Molotov: I will try.

Attlee: I am not satisfied with the paper as it is drafted. It is not equitable.

Byrnes: In what respect is it inequitable?

Attlee: When property is removed as booty according to the document the satellite must make compensation.

Byrnes: The paper says the United States looks to the occupying power. Where it is not returned, the United States must demand compensation from the satellite. We also have a question on the point of foreign exchange. There is no more reason for foreign exchange here than there is in the case of reparations or any other support [export?]. The foreign exchange requirement ties up the satellite too tightly.

Byrnes: That is why the paper was circulated on July 26 so that these objections could be raised and considered.

Molotov: I figure that the Americans are nearer the problems than Mr. Attlee. We will discuss it further this evening.

Truman: Shall we consider the communiqué.

Attlee: Let us have the Protocol and the Communiqué Committees get to work and we will convene as soon as they have finished—say at 9:00 o’clock.

Truman: I should like a mention in the communiqué of the matter of inland waterways which I brought up.

Stalin: We did not discuss it. It was not mentioned in the lists of subjects to be covered by the conference. We should not be in a hurry[.]

Truman: We discussed it several times.

Stalin: Why should we give preference to the discussion of the waterways over the discussion of the Straits.

Truman: The Straits are in the protocol and in the communiqué.

Stalin: Have we finished. Truman: I don’t think so.

Stalin: I suggest both be mentioned in the protocol but not in the communiqué. Truman: All right.

Bevin: I should like to ask if [that] the French be associated with our decision on war crimes.

Truman: I don’t see why if things are acted on here they should not be mentioned in the protocol and in the communiqué.

Byrnes: We only wish to say that the matter should be referred to the Council of Foreign Ministers.

Stalin: If we go back to the practice of our previous conferences we find that there are two kinds of decisions, one kind for the protocol and another for the communiqué. The communiqué was much shorter. The other agreements were not secret. There was simply no need for their publication in the communiqué.

Truman: That is all right if I make mention of the decision on inland waterways on [in?] my own report?

Stalin: Of course, you have this right.

Adjournment taken at 2:30 [5:50?] p.m.⁵

1. For the documents referred to in these notes, see the footnotes to the Thompson minutes, supra.
2. Concerning discrepancies in the attribution of this and other statements made at this meeting as between the Thompson minutes and the Cohen notes, see the footnotes to the Thompson minutes, supra.
3. There is an apparent omission at this point in the source text.
4. This sentence should probably be consolidated with the following sentence with the insertion at this point of the words “paragraphs 3 to 5 of”.
5. Cf. the Log, ante, p. 24. In the original typescript the Cohen notes for the evening meeting (post, p. 597) follow at this point without a break.