740.00119 Control (Germany)/12–2446: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the United States Deputy Military Governor for Germany (Clay)
u.s. urgent
3037. Personal from the Secretary to General Clay. There seems to be some misunderstanding regarding our position on Saar if reports morning papers are accurate.20 In private conversation with Bidault during peace conference session in Paris I assured him US would support French position for immediate administrative action on Saar and that I would raise no objection to such measures including customs controls provided the French first informed the CFM.
Later on Oct 14 in response to personal letter from Bidault I informed him as follows:
[Here follows text of the second paragraph of Byrnes’ letter to Bidault dated October 14, printed on page 621.]
You will recall in New York French made statement on Dec 921 that certain measures in the Saar of administrative and conservatory character would be required because of food and currency situations which required institution of controls. French indicated none of these economic or financial measures would prejudice future CFM decisions on frontiers or reparations nor would they affect decisions regarding Saar coal. I made no objection to this statement nor did Molotov or Bevin.
In view of foregoing I do not believe we can protest measures French are taking to treat Saar as separate administrative unit. However, we certainly do have grounds protesting unilateral actions [Page 656] affecting reparations and level of industry agreements such as removal of Bosch plant. At your suggestion strong note regarding Bosch case being presented to French Ambassador here (re OMGUS telegram CC 7391 Dec 17 to War22).
Trust foregoing will clarify situation.
- Reference is to protests by General Clay against French unilateral action in establishing a custom barrier between the Saar and the rest of Germany.↩
- See volume ii.↩
Telegram not printed. On December 27, the Secretary of State addressed a note to the French Ambassador (not printed) protesting removal of the Robert Bosch plant from Southern Wuerttemberg in the French zone to the Saar. The Secretary stated that this removal violated quadripartite agreements on the determination of plants which were to be removed as reparations and also affected figures of the Level of Industry Plan. He concluded by submitting that the removal was not a matter for French unilateral action and asked the French Government to provide full information within a short time.
The reply came in a note from the French Embassy dated January 2, 1947 (not printed), explaining that the transfer of the plant had been requested by the owners and did not relate to French action on the Saar. In the event of possible detachment of the Saar from Germany, France was prepared to see the plant’s value added to its reparations account. It was also pointed out that the factory was to be declared available for reparations and hence its transfer could not affect the industrial standard to be allowed in Germany. (740.00119–EW/12–2746)
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