740.00119 Control (Germany)/10–845
The United States Political Adviser for Germany (Murphy) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 22.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose a copy of a memorandum10 concerning the United States enclave of Bremen which has been prepared by Dr. James K. Pollock, Chief of the Government Structure Branch of the Civil Administration Division, Office of Military Government For Germany (U.S.).
After the original tripartite agreement on zones of occupation had allocated Bremen and Bremerhaven to the United States, certain [Page 977] American Naval officers thought it desirable that, for security reasons, United States forces should occupy the shores along which our seaborne traffic passes in and out of the two ports. As a consequence of representations to the British military authorities, the United States enclave was enlarged to include not only the Stadtkreise of Bremen and Bremerhaven but also two Landkreise from Hannover (Wesermuende and Osterholz) and one Landkreis from Oldenburg (Wesermarsch).11
Dr. Pollock in his memorandum points out that considerable administrative confusion has resulted from the separation of these Kreise from their normal administrative relationships. In the absence of a single German authority for the enclave the only coordination of the activities of these disparate units is that provided by Military Government. That coordination, however, is necessarily limited and incomplete. Consequently, in the operation of various special administrative services enclave boundaries are being disregarded in some cases, such as railways, justice and food and agriculture, while in other cases the use of the enclave boundaries is cutting the established lines of German administrative responsibility.
Virtually all of the administrative problems now confronting the American administration in the enclave arise, in Dr. Pollock’s opinion, from the unnecessary expansion of the United States area of occupation beyond the Stadtkreis of Bremen and the dock areas of Bremerhaven.
Dr. Pollock has recommended that all of the territory of the enclave except Bremen and the dock areas of Bremerhaven be returned to the British zone after the necessary arrangements are made for the efficient operation of the ports, and that all the special administrative services be returned in so far as feasible to the system obtaining prior to occupation and subjected to more effective supervision through better liaison with the neighboring British authorities.
Dr. Pollock’s recommendations are now being studied by Headquarters, United States Forces European Theater in Frankfurt.12
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩
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For texts of the Protocol between the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union on the Zones of Occupation in Germany and Administration of the “Greater Berlin” area signed at London, September 12, 1944, the Amending Agreement signed at London, November 14, 1944, and the Amending Agreement between the three signatory powers and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, signed at London, July 26, 1945, see Department of State, Treaties and Other International Acts Series No. 3071, or United States Treaties and Other International Agreements, vol. v. (pt. 2), p. 2078. For documentation, see Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. i, pp. 100 ff.; and ante, pp. 160 ff.
For documentation concerning the Agreement regarding the Bremen-Bremerhaven Enclave approved by the Combined Chiefs of Staff February 6, 1945, see Conferences at Malta and Yalta, pp. 131, 198–201, 440, 592–593, 635, and 638–639.
↩ - For text of the subsequent Anglo-American Agreement on Military Government responsibility in the Bremen Enclave, December 10, 1945, see Pollock and Meisel, Germany Under Occupation, p. 121.↩