Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1945, European Advisory Commission, Austria, Germany, Volume III

740.00119 Control (Germany)/3–2445

Memorandum by the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee to the Secretary of State ¹¹

Washington, March 24, 1945.

The State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee has reviewed draft directives prepared by the U.S. Advisers, European Advisory Commission, which have not heretofore been acted upon by the Joint Chiefs of Staff with respect to International Agreements, Control of German Foreign Relations, Disposition of Enemy Diplomatic and Consular Property and Archives, and Displaced Persons and Refugees.

The Committee has approved the appended statement of policy on these matters, after obtaining a statement from the Joint Chiefs of Staff that there is no objection thereto from the military point of view.

The Committee recommends that the appended statement of policy be transmitted to the U.S. Representative, EAC, for introduction and negotiation in the Commission.

For the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee:

James Clement Dunn

Chairman

[Annex]

Annex “A” to Appendix “A”¹²

Addendum to Directive to Commander in Chief of U.S. (U.K.) (U.S.S.R.) Forces of Occupation Regarding the Military Government of Germany in the Period Immediately Following the Cessation of Organized Resistance (Post Defeat) (JCS 1067)

section i

international agreements

1. The Control Council will declare null and void all official acts which have given effect to the territorial expansion of Germany since December 31, 1937.

2. All military and political treaties and agreements entered into by Germany for the preparation, initiation, or furtherance of the war upon the United Nations will be regarded as terminated.

3. The Control Council will suspend, so far as Germany is concerned, such international agreements or parts thereof as it shall determine.

4. The Control Council will require the German authorities to comply with and carry out, in whole or in part, Germany’s obligations under such international agreements as the Control Council shall determine.

5. The Control Council will require the German authorities to furnish a list of all treaties and international agreements to which Germany is or has been a party since January 1, 1933.

section ii

control of german foreign relations and the disposition of enemy diplomatic and consular property and records

6. The term “German Foreign Office,” as used in this section, refers to the Auswärtiges Amt and all its branches. The terms “officials” and “official personnel” as used with reference to persons serving on missions abroad includes all diplomatic, consular, and other officials and all military, naval and air force personnel accredited to or serving on diplomatic or special missions, together with their staffs and members of their families.

7. The Control Council will establish and maintain control of the German Foreign Office and will determine and coordinate policies with respect to German foreign relations.

8. In furtherance of the policy of eliminating Naziism, the Foreign Organization (die Auslandsorganisation) in the German Foreign Office will be dissolved, and the activities of the Press, Information, Radio and Cultural Affairs Divisions of the German Foreign Office will be immediately suspended.

9. All records, archives, codes and ciphers of the German Foreign Office will be immediately seized wherever found, and secured.¹³ Access to all such secured matter will be permitted any representatives of the Occupying Powers accredited therefor, by their respective Commanders-in-Chief, or any representatives of any other United Nation accredited therefor by the Control Council.

10. The Control Council will notify all states in which consulates or missions of Germany are located, and the powers protecting German consulates or missions that the Control Council assumes control over all German diplomatic and consular property and archives abroad.¹⁴ Access to such German diplomatic and consular premises will thereafter be procured for representatives of the Occupying Powers, and the return to Germany will be effected of all German diplomatic and consular records whose return may be desired by the Control Council.

11. An examination of German Foreign Office records and German diplomatic and consular records will be undertaken by the Control Council for the purpose, among others, of obtaining information regarding the war aims of Germany and associated governments, their methods of operation, and their responsibility for aggression, ruthlessness, war crimes and other violations of international law.

12. All German official personnel serving on missions abroad will be recalled. If their recall cannot be effected or if their recall is not practicable by reasons of nationality, their authority as agents for Germany will be terminated.

13. German diplomatic and consular relations with any country or puppet government which is or has been at war since December 31, 1937 with any of the United Nations will be broken off. The official personnel of such countries or governments in Germany will be taken into protective custody, wherever found, and held for further disposition. The diplomatic and consular property and records belonging to such countries or governments and to their official personnel will be seized and secured if not found in the custody of a protecting power.

14. You will report to the Control Council the location and general nature of all such enemy diplomatic and consular property and records seized in your zone. You will permit any representatives of each of the other Occupying Powers accredited therefor by their respective Commanders-in-Chief, or any representatives of any other United Nation accredited therefor by the Control Council, to have access to any such property and records.

15. In the event that any diplomatic and consular property and archives of enemy countries are found in the custody of a protecting power, you will respect that custody, pending further instructions. You are authorized, however, for security reasons to request the representative of the protecting power for permission to search the premises. If such permission is refused or unreasonably delayed, you are authorized to effect entry and search, if deemed urgently necessary for the security of your forces.

16. All communications between neutral officials in Germany and their governments, and between neutral officials and German personnel retained in the German Foreign Office will be under supervision of the Control Council. The withdrawal from Germany of official personnel of neutral countries may be effected, as may be deemed necessary by the Control Council for Security or other reasons.

section iii

treatment of displaced persons and refugees

17. Subject to agreed policies of the Control Council, which will coordinate policies on this subject throughout Germany, you will undertake the repatriation, return to former residence or resettlement of displaced persons who are (a) nationals of United Nations and of neutral states (b) stateless persons, (c) nationals of enemy or former enemy countries who have been persecuted by the enemy for reasons of race, color, creed or political opinion, (d) nationals of Italy, as rapidly as requirements for military operations and maintenance of forces of occupation and arrangements with their respective governments permit, giving due consideration to the wishes of the individuals involved, and giving preference among such persons to nationals of the United Nations and persons freed from concentration camps or other places of detention or internment.

18. You will establish or maintain centers for the assembly, repatriation and return of the foregoing displaced persons. Subject to your general control and responsibility, you will require the German authorities to maintain essential supply and other services for them, including adequate food, shelter, clothing and medical care, making up deficiencies in such provision.

19. Subject to your general control, you will hold the German authorities responsible for the care and disposition of refugees and those displaced persons who are nationals of former enemy countries not otherwise provided for in this section. You may permit their repatriation or return subject to such control as you deem necessary, and in accordance with appropriate arrangements with the governments of the countries to which they are being repatriated.

20. Subject to agreed policies of the Control Council, you will determine the extent to which UNRRA,¹⁵ the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, or other civilian agencies will participate in handling displaced persons and refugees.

21. You will accord liaison on matters connected with displaced persons to representatives of each of the other Occupying Powers accredited therefor by their respective Commander-in-Chief and to representatives of any of the United Nations and neutral states and of Italy accredited therefor by the Control Council or other competent authority. You will arrange for such representatives to have access to displaced persons who are nationals of their countries and are authorized to permit them to use the facilities of their governments for purposes of repatriation.

22.

• a. The term “displaced persons” includes (1) non-German civilian nationals who have been obliged to leave their own countries or to remain in Germany by reasons of the war, (2) non-Germans who were formerly members of non-German armed forces and who by reason of having taken up civilian employment or otherwise are no longer entitled to prisoner of war status, (3) stateless persons, and (4) German civilian nationals who have been persecuted by the enemy for reasons of race, color, creed or political opinion.
• b. The term “refugees” includes German civilian nationals within Germany who are temporarily homeless because of military operations, or are residing at some distance from their homes for reasons related to the war.

11. Approved by the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee by informal action on March 26, 1945.
12. Transmitted as an enclosure to instruction 5281, March 30, 1945, to London, which stated that the directives had been formally approved by the Department of State, the War Department, and the Navy Department and which authorized the Ambassador to present them to the European Advisory Commission (740.00119 EAC/3–3045). Ambassador Winant circulated the three sections of this annex in the European Advisory Commission as separate United States draft directives: Section I as U.S. draft directive No. 20, designated E.A.C. (45) 41, dated April 17, 1945; section II as U.S. draft directive No. 19, designated E.A.C. (45) 40, dated April 17; section III as U.S. draft directive No. 18, designated E.A.C. (45) 39, dated April 17.
13. For documentation regarding the collection and exploitation of archives and records of German ministries, see pp. 1099 ff.
14. For documentation regarding the assumption of control over German overseas diplomatic missions and consulates, see pp. 1136 ff.
15. United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. For documentation regarding the participation by the United States in the work of UNRRA in 1945, see vol. ii, pp. 958 ff.