740.00119 Control (Hungary)/5–1445

The People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union ( Molotov ) to the American Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Harriman )12

[Translation]

Dear Mr. Ambassador: Under instructions of the Soviet Government I am sending you herewith the Statutes of the Allied Control Commission for Hungary, the text of which was previously agreed upon with you.

At the same time I wish to state that as was previously agreed upon by us the attached Statutes of the Allied Control Commission for Hungary will be regarded as approved by the Governments of the Soviet Union, Great Britain and the United States and will enter into force immediately after the signing of the Hungarian Armistice Agreement.

[Page 802]

I am sending a letter of similar contents to the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of Great Britain, Mr. Balfour.

Please accept [etc.]

V. M. Molotov
[Enclosure]

Statutes of the Allied Control Commission in Hungary

1. The functions of the Allied Control Commission in Hungary shall consist of the regulation and control, for the period up to the conclusion of peace, over the exact fulfillment of the armistice terms set forth in the agreement concluded on January, 1945,13 between the governments of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom and the United States of America on the one hand and the Provisional Government of Hungary on the other.

2. The Allied Control Commission shall be headed by a Chairman who shall be the representative of the Soviet armed forces. Attached to him there shall be: a vice-chairman of the Commission; a political adviser; two assistants to the Chairman; a chief of staff of the Commission.

Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States of America will be included in the composition of the Allied Control Commission.

The Allied Control Commission shall have its own seal.

The seat of the Allied Control Commission shall be Budapest.

3. The Allied Control Commission shall be composed of:

(a)
a staff
(b)
a political division
(c)
an administrative division
(d)
a military division
(e)
an air force division
(f)
a river fleet division
(g)
an economic division

4. During the first period, i.e. from the moment of the entry into force of the armistice to the end of hostilities against Germany, the Chairman (or Vice-Chairman) shall call meetings and inform the British and American representatives of policy directives (i.e. directives involving matters of general principle) prior to the issuance of such directives to the Hungarian authorities in the name of the Commission, and also take note of such observations as the British or American representatives may desire to make.

5. During this first period, the representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States of America shall have the right: [Page 803]

(a)
to receive oral and written information from Soviet officials of the Commission on any matters connected with the fulfillment of the armistice agreement.
(b)
to put forward for the consideration of the Commission proposals of their governments on questions connected with the fulfillment of the armistice agreement.
(c)
to receive copies of all communications, reports and other documents which may interest the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
(d)
to make journeys to the provinces. For this purpose they shall apply to the Vice-Chairman regarding the arrangements to be made.
(e)
to participate in general conferences or meetings of the chiefs of divisions of the Commission.
(f)
to communicate through the Chairman of the Commission, the Vice-Chairman, or the chief of the appropriate division, with the organs of the Hungarian Government.
(g)
to determine the size and composition of their own delegations.
(h)
to communicate directly with their respective governments by cipher telegram and by diplomatic mail, for which purpose they shall have the right to receive and despatch diplomatic couriers by air at regular intervals, by agreement with the Allied (Soviet) High Command.
(i)
to determine the amount of money required from the Hungarian Government for the expenses of their respective staffs and to obtain such funds through the Commission.

6. The Allied Control Commission shall have its representatives in the provinces, districts, ports, and at the most important enterprises for the organization of local control.

7. The Vice-Chairman and assistants to the Chairman of the Allied Control Commission and also the chiefs of divisions shall have the right, through the local military command, to call in specialist-officers for consultation, for making surveys or for working out special questions which arise during the work of the Allied Control Commission.

8. Liaison with the Hungarian Governmental authorities shall be effected by representatives of the Allied Control Commission not lower than a chief of division of the Commission and in the provinces, districts and ports by the appropriate representatives of the Commission.

[President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill, and Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin, Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet Union, with their advisers, met in conference at Yalta, February 4–11, 1945. The three leaders agreed upon a “Declaration on Liberated Europe” providing for joint action by the three powers in meeting political and economic problems of liberated Europe, in accordance with democratic principles. For text of the Declaration, see item V of the Report of the Crimea Conference, February 11, 1945, Foreign Relations, The Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945, page 971. Regarding the consideration of the Declaration [Page 804] at the Conference, see ibid., index entry on “Declaration on Liberated Europe” page 1002. Regarding the consideration of other issues related to Hungary, see ibid., index entry on “Hungary” page 1006. For the undated Briefing Book Papers on the United States position on Allied Control Commissions in Rumania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, and United States policy regarding Hungary, prepared for President Roosevelt and the Secretary of State for use at the Yalta (Crimea) Conference, see ibid., pages 238240 and 242245.]

  1. Copy transmitted to the Department as enclosure 26 in despatch 1713, May 14, from Moscow, not printed.

    In a letter dated January 21, 1945, to Molotov, Ambassador Harriman replied as follows:

    “I wish to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of January 20, 1945, enclosing the Statutes of the Allied Control Commission for Hungary.

    “I hereby wish to confirm my Government’s approval of these Statutes, as transmitted in your letter under reference.” (740.00119 Control (Hungary)/5–1445)

  2. The armistice agreement was signed January 20, 1945.