740.00119 Control (Germany)/8–3045: Telegram
The United States Political Adviser for Germany ( Murphy ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:45 p.m.]
408. The fourth meeting of the Control Council for Germany took place on August 30, with General Eisenhower presiding. Owing to the illness of Marshal Montgomery his place was taken by General [Page 834] Robertson. General Koeltz took place of General Koenig, in view of the latter’s meeting with General de Gaulle. Marshal Zhukov represented the Soviets.
The meeting approved the order originally suggested by the French and amended by the British, prohibiting the wearing of German uniform or any badges of rank, medals or insignia. General Eisenhower added the provision that uniforms might be worn if dyed to a different color.76
The Council took note that the British and Russians had agreed on zone boundaries in Berlin to satisfy British requirement for airfield facilities in Berlin. The Soviet is compensated by corresponding airfield facilities elsewhere.
Marshal Zhukov has submitted to the Council a proposal to establish a committee, attached to the Economics Directorate: to compile lists of enterprises, research institutes, et cetera, which might be employed for war production; to submit proposals for the elimination of those enterprises, and the use of non-specialized equipment for peacetime production; to work out a form of control over remaining enterprises; and to list items whose production should be banned. This proposal was referred to the Economics Directorate.
The members of the Council signed the proclamation to the German people on the establishment of the Control Council with supreme authority for Germany.77
The Council approved and passed to the Coordinating Committee for signature, the directive that the legal Directorate develop measures and procedures regarding war criminals under the so-called Jackson Agreement of August 8.78
[Page 835]The Council approved and signed the letter of the Allied Reparations Commission requesting that the Council be informed concerning the policies of that Commission. The French member signed the letter with special paragraph referring to the reservations of the French Government with regard to the Potsdam Agreement.79
The Council took note of the Secretariat report on the status of the organization of the Directorate. The meeting went off in an unusually short time and no important comments were made.
- Issued as Control Council Order No. 1, Berlin, 30 August 1945, Official Gazette of the Control Council for Germany, No. 1 (29 October 1945), p. 5.↩
- Control Council Proclamation No. 1, Berlin, 30 August 1945, ibid., p. 4. In telegram 388, August 29, from Berlin, not printed, the U.S. Political Adviser reported on the discussions at the fourth meeting of the Coordinating Committee, August 27, concerning the drafting of this proclamation. During the meeting “A clause was removed stating that existing laws in the zones would be retained subject to the paramount authority of the Control Council. General Robertson suggested that this clause would suggest to the Germans the possibility of an appeal to the Council from zone laws. General Sokolovsky did not like use of the word ‘laws,’ stating that word implied a permanence which the Control Council did not have. On General Clay’s suggestion the term ‘military laws’ was substituted as this term is less permanent.” (740.00119 Control (Germany)/8–2945)↩
- Reference is to Robert H. Jackson, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and Chief Counsel for the United States in the prosecution of Axis War Criminals. For text of the agreement by the Government of the United States of America, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for the prosecution and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis, signed at London, August 8, 1945, see Department of State Executive Agreement Series No. 472, or 59 Stat. (pt. 2) 1544. For documentation on this subject, see pp. 1151 ff.↩
- See telegram 411, August 31, from Berlin, p. 1274.↩