840.4016/10–2545
The Department of State to the French Embassy
Memorandum
The Department of State refers to the aide-mémoire of the French Embassy dated October 25, 1945 (No. 852 AB/AC) concerning the transfer of the Sudeten population from Czechoslovakia. No official request has been received by the United States Government regarding the admittance of a specific number of Sudeten Germans into the United States zone in Germany.
The policy of the United States Government with respect to the transfer of the Sudeten population is based on the principles enunciated in paragraph 13 of the Potsdam Agreement. The United States in that agreement recognized in principle that the transfer would have to be made but that it should be made in an orderly and humane manner and that the Sudeten German population should be equitably distributed among the several zones of occupation in Germany. The Allied Control Council in Berlin has been requested to determine the method and time of the transfer as well as the distribution among the several zones. The Czechoslovak Government has prepared a plan designed to carry out the principles of the Potsdam Agreement, which will be presented by the Czechoslovak Mission to the Control Council for discussion.
The Department of State considers that in order to provide an equitable distribution of the Sudeten population within Germany the Control Council should determine the rate of transfer in terms of the ability of the several zones to absorb an increased population. Consequently, a mass expulsion of the Sudeten Germans by the Czechoslovak Government or the transfer of 500,000 Sudeten Germans to any one zone in Germany is considered to be neither desirable nor feasible. After the arrival of the Sudeten population in the [Page 1306] zones, the Department of State considers that supervision of the Sudeten population in Germany should be exercised by the Prisoners of War and Displaced Persons Directorate of the Allied Control Council in order to provide standards of health and sanitation consistent with the treatment of the German population as a whole. The Department of State does not consider that any international agency or special administrative service is required to administer the Sudeten population in Germany and recommends that the supervision be exercised by the appropriate agency of the Allied Control Council in order to achieve a rapid assimilation of the Sudeten population into the present German population. In this regard the additional supplies required by the Sudeten population would be absorbed into the general requirements for the whole of Germany.
In as much as the movement of the Sudeten population will have an important effect on the political, economic and demographic organization of the Continent of Europe, the Department of State considers that it should be treated in such a way by the four Allied powers as to prevent a dislocation of the Czechoslovak economic system.