740.00119 Council/10–2146
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Aide-Mémoire
In response to the British Embassy’s aide-mémoire of October 21, 194661 relative to a discussion on Austria in the forthcoming Council of Foreign Ministers in November, the Department of State agrees with the United Kingdom Government that an attempt should be made to effect a discussion of Austrian questions, and in particular the draft treaty, as soon as possible.
Proposal (a) on page 1 of the aide-mémoire under reference seems to the Department of State to be the best initial approach.62 The Department of State likewise agrees that it will be desirable for the Council of Foreign Ministers to concentrate upon the wider aspects of reestablishing a free and independent Austria rather than debating secondary objections which may be advanced. However, the Department of State also agrees that the questions of displaced persons and denazification are likely to be raised by the Soviet representative and concurs in the general approach to these problems as suggested in the [Page 375] aide-mémoire.63 It is inevitable that the solution to the problem of displaced persons will take a considerable time. The American Government is making all possible efforts to solve this urgent problem and furthermore hopes that the International Refugee Organization, when it comes into operation, will likewise assist.
With respect to the denazification problem in Austria, the Department of State has not been informed of any recent action on the part of the Allied Council in Vienna, where it is understood that the British, American, and French representatives, after expressions of general approval of the new law, agreed with the Soviet representatives’ proposal to refer the text to the Executive Committee for further study, in view of the Soviet element’s dissatisfaction with the progress of the denazification program. If upon the report of the Executive Committee Soviet approval is still withheld it might be advisable to attempt to ascertain in the forthcoming meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers what the Soviet objections are to the proposed Austrian legislation and to see if any specific objections cannot be met.
In addition to the displaced persons and denazification problems, which the Soviet representatives may well be prepared to discuss, the Department of State considers it not unlikely that the Soviet Government views the German assets question as a specific point on which they would wish to be satisfied before public consideration of an Austrian treaty. In this connection, it is recalled that this Government has indicated the lines along which it would desire the German assets question to be settled in Part XIV of the proposed draft treaty for Reinstatement of an Independent and Democratic Austria.
The Department of State is in general agreement with paragraph 3 and 4 of the Embassy’s aide-mémoire of October 21, 1946.64
- Not printed.↩
- This passage reads as follows: “To propose at the previous meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, at which the peace treaties with the former German satellite states are to be discussed, that Austrian questions, including that of a treaty, should be placed on the agenda of the meeting to discuss Germany.” (740.00119 Council/10–2146)↩
- Regarding displaced persons the British aide-mémoire suggested that the problem should be explained to the Soviet representative, “informing him of what has been and is being done, and representing to him that the problem still remaining is one that must be dealt with by the International Refugees Organization.” On the denazification problem, the aide-mémoire recalled that “endeavours have been made to have an agreed report on denazification prepared by the Allied Council in Vienna for transmission to the Council of Foreign Ministers.” In both instances, the delay encountered by these problems should not prevent the conclusion of a treaty. (740.00119 Council/10–2146)↩
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The key sections of these paragraphs are as follows:
↩- “3. The fundamental view of His Majesty’s Government is, however, that the case for the early conclusion of a treaty should be based on the ground that this is in the interest of Austria herself, of the occupying powers (which naturally wish to reduce their commitments), and of Central and Danubian Europe as a whole, which depends to so great an extent on Austria’s recovery. …”
- “4. As the United States Government will be aware, Soviet pressure on Austria has increased over the past three months and, with the threatened food crisis and the approach of winter, conditions may become so difficult as to weaken the will of the Austrians to maintain their independence. His Majesty’s Government has no doubt that the United States Government shares its keen desire to produce a relaxation of pressure by means of the early conclusion of a treaty. …”