740.00119 Control (Germany)/10–545
The United States Political Adviser for Germany (Murphy) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 22—2:10 p.m.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that on September 24, 1945 in a simple but dignified public ceremony held at the Headquarters of the Regional Military Government, the officers of the German Land Government [Page 974] for the Land North Wuerttemberg-Baden were installed at Stuttgart. The German officials for this Land Government are:
- Dr. Reinhold Maier, Minister-President for North Wuerttemberg-Baden and Minister of Finance,
- Herr Fritz Ulrich, Minister of the Interior,
- Dr. Josef Beyerle, Minister of Justice,
- Herr Josef Andre, Minister of Economics,
- Dr. Theodor Heuss, Minister of Culture, and
- Herr Otto Steinmayer, Minister of Posts.
In his address to the new German Land hierarchy, Colonel W. W. Dawson, Regional Military Government Officer, charged them with the challenge “Make Democracy Work”. Both Colonel Dawson and Minister-President Maier called attention to the almost insurmountable difficulties arising out of the present division of the states of Wuerttemberg and Baden into American and French Zones. In this regard, Minister-President Maier said
“the people of Wuerttemberg and Baden without distinction and unanimously look upon the temporary division of their lands as the greatest misfortune that has come to them and as the bitterest pill they have had to swallow as a result of the war.”
The text of the addresses of Colonel Dawson and Minister-President Maier are enclosed.7
A Special Committee, composed of representatives of the US Group Control Council, G–5 USFET, and Headquarters, Seventh Army, have just made a study of the administrative and political problems arising out of this division and the attempt to organize a single Land Government to administer the two American areas in North Wuerttemberg and North Baden. (See my telegram no. 558 [559], dated September 18, 10 p.m.) The Report of this Committee, on which I was represented by Mr. Muccio, is being submitted to the Department under separate despatch.7
The delay in selecting and installing a German Government for the Land North Wuerttemberg-Baden was due to several complexities, arising from the endeavor to adjust local peculiarities to general directives of Military Government. For several months temporary heads of Land departments, first under the French, and since July 13 under American authorities, have been acting as directors of several Land activities. These departments, now incorporated into the German Land Government created by American Military Government, have extended their influences—with the acquiescence of the French—into the French-controlled areas of South Wuerttemberg. This was the first problem encountered. The second arose from the directive [Page 975] that North Baden and North Wuerttemberg are to be administered as one Land. A start has now been made toward integrating North Baden into the territory governed from Stuttgart. This process is at its very beginning and little has thus far been done in terms of actual administration of North Baden from Stuttgart. There are two Military Government detachments, one at Mannheim and another at Karlsruhe, with a Landesbezirk government at each city. Coordination between North Baden and North Wuerttemberg is to be achieved by having the Landesbezirk präsidents from Karlsruhe and from Mannheim represent North Baden in the Land Government with the rank of “ministers without portfolios”. These two officials have not yet been selected, so no representatives from North Baden attended this ceremony. A further class of difficulties delaying the organization of the German Land Government arose from the uncertainty as to how to handle the several administrative services which overlap the French and American areas. Further confusing the complex situation has been the constant stream of rumors of changes in the line of demarcation between French and American zones. These special problems are discussed in detail in the Committee Report referred to above.
With this installation, we now have two German Government administrations, one for the whole of Bavaria, including the Landkreis of Lindau, and the other for North Wuerttemberg-Baden. As reported in my despatch no. 1052 of October 3, 1945,8 instructions have been issued for the coordination of the administration of the balance of the area of Hessen and Hessen–Nassau within the American Zone of Occupation into a third Land to be known as Greater Hessen (Grosshessen). The organization of a centralized German administration for this third Land, however, has not yet been undertaken. I shall keep the Department fully informed of developments in this regard.
Respectfully yours,