740.00119 Control (Germany)/10–345: Telegram
The Ambassador in Czechoslovakia (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:45 p.m.]
417. As requested27 my comments on USPolAd Berlin 621 September 25 to the Department are as follows:
Ever since the Potsdam decision approved the transfer of Germans from Czechoslovakia to Germany the Czech Government has been endeavoring to approach the Allied authorities in Berlin with a view to arranging for an orderly and humane transfer. Thus far the Czecho Government has not been permitted to submit its plan to the Allied authorities in Berlin who without having given the Czechs a hearing appear to be determined to delay all transfers until next spring. These dilatory tactics are construed by Czech Government and public as deliberately intended to oblige Czechoslovakia to feed, clothe and house throughout the winter not only Sudeten Germans but Germans who fled to Czechoslovakia to escape the Soviet armies as well.
Considering the inhumane treatment Czechs suffered at hands of many of these same Germans for over 6 years and the extent to which their patience is now being strained by the refusal of Allied authorities to permit them to expel even the worst offenders, it is surprising that there has been so little ill treatment of the Germans in Czechoslovakia and so few irregular expulsions or voluntary departures. In this connection it is important to bear in mind that the expulsion of the Germans from Czechoslovakia is by far the most important political issue in the country. Every prominent Czech and Slovak [Page 1284] politician from extreme right to extreme left is as much committed to expulsion as are the American, British and Soviet Governments by the Potsdam decision. With coming of cold weather it is quite possible that serious outbreaks may take place occasioned by refusal to permit any expulsions rather than by a failure to agree to wholesale transfers. I have felt for sometime that Allied consent to a moderate number of transfers which would permit the Czechs to rid themselves of some of the worst offenders would go far to relieve tension which is steadily mounting. Only yesterday the leading Communist newspaper Rude Pravo again referred to opposition by the “Western Powers” to expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia and again asserted that Potsdam decision agreeing to expulsion had been result of Soviet initiative in forcing US and Great Britain into line. Having been a party to the Potsdam decision any failure by the Soviet member of the Allied Control Council in Berlin to agree at this time to a schedule of orderly and humane transfers should be regarded in my opinion as having as its motive a desire to place the US in an unfavorable light before the Czech Government and public, as it is generally understood by the Czechs that transfers must be made into the US zone of occupation. Now that the trend of public opinion in Czechoslovakia is beginning to strongly favor the US it would be most unfortunate if this trend were to be abruptly reversed as result of further delay in implementing the Potsdam decision.
Insofar as concerns the reservations in USPolAd’s telegram under reference it seems to me that overdue arrangements for orderly and humane transfers might well prevent further alleged mistreatment of German elements in Czechoslovakia rather than as suggested that “entries are the result of treatment of German elements in Czechoslovakia that prevents orderly and humane transfer”, a process of reasoning I am unable to comprehend.
As both sides of the Czech-German frontier are controlled by US armed forces and as this border is closed, it is also difficult for me to understand how any considerable number of Germans can be “entering the US zone” unless the US military authorities consent.
In conclusion, I am constrained to express concern lest the appearance by some of our military authorities, as indicated by the telegram under reference, of favoring the German population as against our Czech Allies may in the course of time have serious political consequences in Czechoslovakia particularly in the struggle between the Communists and the Moderates for control of the country.
Sent to Department as 417, repeated to USPolAd as 24.
- Request made in Department’s telegram 270, September 28, 9 p.m. to Praha (740.00119 Control (Germany)/9–2545).↩