Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, Council of Foreign Ministers; Germany and Austria, Volume II

CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 58

Report of the Special Committee to the Council of Foreign Ministers ⁹¹

secret
CFM(47) (M)93

2nd April, 1947.

Draft Decisions of the Council of Foreign Ministers on the Report of the Allied Control Council for Germany

i. agreed recommendations ⁹²

The Special Committee agreed to recommend to the Council of Foreign Ministers the following action on the points mentioned:

Denazification:

The Council of Foreign Ministers directs the Control Council for Germany as follows:—

1. To take all appropriate measures to hasten the process of Denazification throughout Germany in accordance with Control Council Directives Nos. 24 and 38.

2. To complete as soon as possible the removal of former active Nazis and militarists from public and semi-public office and from positions of responsibility in important private undertakings and to study the possibility of fixing a date for the completion of this process.

3. To take all measures necessary to ensure that only those individuals are employed in a judicial capacity or as public prosecutors who are considered by reason of their political and moral qualities to be capable of assisting the development of genuine democratic institutions in Germany.

4. To concentrate upon and to hasten the bringing to trial of war criminals, members of Nazi criminal organisations and of active supporters of the Nazi regime, without requiring the indiscriminate trial of the mass of nominal members of the Nazi Party.

5. To take action in the near future through Zone Commanders to devolve upon the appropriate German authorities responsibility for carrying out Control Council Directives Nos. 24 and 38, by passing the necessary German legislation and to ensure through the Zone Commanders that the effect of the legislation so passed is such as to produce uniform treatment of all former Nazis and militarists corresponding to their degree of responsibility, while at the same time giving the German authorities discretion as to the precise methods by which they carry out this task.

Democratization:

The Council of Foreign Ministers directs the Control Council for Germany as follows:—

• Elections: 1. To ensure quadripartite supervision and inspection of elections throughout Germany as a whole.⁹³
• Land Reform: 2. To ensure the carrying out and completion of land reform throughout Germany in 1947.
• Circulation of Information: 3. To establish freedom for the circulation throughout Germany of information and democratic ideas by all media, limited only by the needs of military security and occupation requirements and for the prevention of resurgence of National Socialism and militarism. All such media of information shall be free from the domination of any German Government, national or local.⁹⁴
• Basic Human Rights: 4. To ensure that any future constitution for Germany as a whole and, through the Zone Commanders, that every state (Land) constitution in Germany contains specific and effective guarantees of the rights of the individual regardless of race, sex, language, or creed, including freedom of religion, freedom from search, seizure and arbitrary arrest, freedom of speech, assembly and association, freedom of movement and communication, the equality of all before the law and the courts, equal rights for education and of access to all employments, and also effective guarantees for freedom of the press and radio, and for independence of the judiciary.⁹⁴

Population transfers: ⁹⁵

1. The Council of Foreign Ministers confirms the agreements reached by the Allied Control Council for Germany recorded in Section VII, Part 2, paragraph 5, of its Report under the title United Nations Displaced Persons as follows:

(a) Accredited representatives of interested nations whose citizens are still in camps and assembly centres allotted to Displaced Persons should have the right to visit these places when accompanied by officers of the occupation forces for the purpose of conferring with these persons.

(b) All propaganda directed against United Nations interests or against repatriation will be forbidden in Displaced Persons Camps.

(c) Distribution of newspapers, magazines and pamphlets published and printed in the countries of which Displaced Persons are citizens shall be allowed in Displaced Persons Camps. The exhibition of films produced in their native countries shall be permitted in Displaced Persons Assembly Centres after approval by proper Allied Control Authority Agencies. These Displaced Persons shall also be allowed unrestricted use of international communications facilities to correspond with their relatives and acquaintances in their home countries. The accredited repatriation Liaison Officers of the United Nations may carry between the Zones and their home countries letters from United Nations Displaced Persons.

(d) Organisations established for carrying on the humanitarian task of tracing missing United Nations Displaced Persons and Prisoners of War shall be continued and that all such organisations should instruct German Authorities to furnish all necessary facilities required by such organisations.

(e) Arrangements should continue for the census and registration of all property and belongings of United Nations Displaced Persons and that the German Authorities should be instructed to continue to give all possible assistance towards the legitimate return of this property with the minimum of delay.

(f) Arrangements should be continued for the repatriation of the remains of deceased United Nations nationals upon request of the countries concerned and that the German Authorities should be instructed to continue to grant all necessary facilities for such purposes.

(g) Arrangements should continue for the care and maintenance by the German Authorities of the graves of United Nations nationals who died in Germany.

2. Council of Foreign Ministers agrees upon the following principles with reference to United Nations Displaced Persons in Germany and to population transfers.

(a) Any war criminals found in Displaced Persons Camps are to be turned over under guard to the Military Command of the countries concerned upon due request and upon production of satisfactory evidence that the individuals whose transfer is requested are in fact war criminals.

(b) All “Committees”, “Centres”, and other similar organisations which may be found to be engaged in activities hostile to the interests of any of the Allied Powers will be immediately disbanded.

(c) The voluntary repatriation of Displaced Persons who are now in Germany will be accelerated.

(d) Control Council shall study further the whole question of the transfers of population into Germany with a view to directing to the areas best able to receive them those populations whose transfer to Germany may be decided in the future. Account shall be taken in this study of the situation existing in each zone.

The recommendations and decisions confirmed or taken by the Council of Foreign Ministers are transmitted to the Control Council for Germany and to the Commanders-in-Chief of the occupation forces of Germany for appropriate action within their spheres of competence.

ii. points of disagreement

The Special Committee was unable to reach complete agreement on the following questions, (divergencies of opinion of the various Delegations are shown in square brackets):—

Democratization:

Political parties and trade unions: 1. The Council of Foreign Ministers confirms the principle of free development and activities of democratic political parties and free trade unions in Germany, [even on an all-German basis. U.S., U.K., Soviet], [within the frame of the Laender. French]. [Political parties shall be competitive in character, constituted by voluntary associations of citizens in which the leaders are responsible to the members, and with no party enjoying a privileged status. Trade unions shall be subject to the same principle of responsible leadership, and any federation of trade unions shall not impair the financial and organisational autonomy of member unions. U.S., U.K.] [The questions pertaining to the relations between a trade union federation and its members are internal affairs of the trade unions. Soviet].

Elections: 2. To ensure that elections throughout Germany as a whole are carried out on the democratic principles of universal equal and direct suffrage and the secret ballot [and on the system of proportional representation. Soviet]

Freedom of movement: 3. The Committee has not discussed proposals for freedom of movement throughout Germany inasmuch as this matter is closely connected with the whole problem of economic unity on which decisions are awaited from the Council of Foreign Ministers.

Education: 4. The Delegations could not agree to the desirability of a new Directive on this matter (Education) nor upon its form.

Territorial Reorganization:

The Council of Foreign Ministers directs the Control Council for Germany:

1. To establish a precise definition of the administrative and territorial division of Germany as of May 1, 1947, indicating the existing territorial boundaries of lands and provinces. [The British Delegation considers that this recommendation is closely linked with the second under this heading and cannot be accepted in isolation.].

2. To ensure that in the future all territorial changes in Germany are made only in accordance with an agreed decision of the Allied Control Council. [Contingent upon agreement being reached on the establishment of provisional governments. [U.S.]]. [To study the present boundaries of the Laender and to examine the desirability of making modifications. All proposals on this question will be presented to the Council of Foreign Ministers at its next session. French].

Population transfers:

(a) Resettlement outside Germany of persons whom it has been impossible to repatriate shall be encouraged [to the extent that provision is made therefor. U.S.]. [Permanent settlement of Displaced Persons on German territory shall not be authorised. Soviet and French.].

(b) Soviet proposal:—To provide that the administration of the Camps for Displaced Persons shall consist primarily of the representatives of states whose citizens are among the Displaced Persons.

The U.S., U.K., and French Delegations did not agree with this proposal.

(c) Soviet proposal: To form a special quadripartite committee for investigating the situation in Camps for Displaced Persons located in the American, British and French Zones of occupation, in order to ascertain the desire and intention of these persons to return to their homeland.

The U.S., U.K. and French Delegations did not agree with this proposal.

(d) French proposals: (1) no new transfer of German-speaking populations shall be effected in addition to those already decided upon by previous agreements. (2) Insofar as the consent of the states concerned can be obtained, the transfers still to be executed under the Potsdam Agreements shall be suspended.

The U.S., U.K. and Soviet Delegations did not agree with this proposal. The U.S. and U.K. Delegations, however, are prepared to examine sympathetically these French proposals.

(e) French proposal: German emigration shall be organised. To this end a conference of the qualified representatives of the four occupying powers shall be convoked before July 1, 1947 in Paris. To the extent that it shall deem useful this conference can invite representatives of other states and in particular those which are in a position to receive German emigrants into their territory.

The U.S., U.K. and Soviet Delegations did not agree to this proposal. The U.S. and U.K. Delegations, however, are prepared to examine sympathetically this French proposal.

(f) U.S. proposal (based on C.F.M. (47) (M)19) that the whole problem of Displaced Persons be not discussed in detail by the Council of Foreign Ministers, but be referred to the I.R.O.

The Soviet Delegation does not agree with this proposal, considering that the questions of resettlement and redistribution of the Displaced Persons which fall under the competence of the Control Council in Germany are included within the competence of the Council of Foreign Ministers and that there is no reason to exclude these questions from the competence of the Council of Foreign Ministers and the Allied Control Council. On the contrary, the I.R.O. cannot deal with such questions. According to the terms of reference of the I.R.O. (which is attached to the U.N.O.), to which the Soviet Government has not adhered, only purely humanitarian and not political aims fall under the competence of this organisation, as has been officially stated by the founders of the organisation.

The U.K. Delegation supports the I.R.O., but reserves its position on this particular proposal, pending the assumption by the I.R.O. of its responsibilities in Germany.

The French Delegation cannot agree to this proposal in its present form. It indicates, however, that the I.R.O. as soon as it starts to function in Germany will receive all facilities to function effectively in the French Zone.

(g) Soviet proposal: In view of the fact that each occupation power had the opportunity to complete in full the repatriation of Displaced Persons and Refugees to their countries of origin after the capitulation of Germany, it should be prohibited to charge any expenses incurred for the maintenance of Displaced Persons and Refugees to German account or to the account of occupation forces as of January 1, 1947.

The U.S., U.K. and the French Delegations do not agree to this proposal. The U.S. Delegation points out that in its opinion the pressure on the German economy would be more effectively relieved by stopping the influx of additional transferees into Germany.

(h) British proposal: The Control Council shall study the possibility of a redistribution of refugees and expellees already transferred to the various Zones of Germany, in order to effect a more equitable and a more even settlement. A German Commission shall be established to study this question. This Commission shall be accorded freedom of action and of movement throughout Germany as a whole and shall be responsible for the implementation of its own recommendations subject to the rights of the Governments of the Laender being safeguarded and subject to the general supervision of the Control Council.

The U.S. and Soviet Delegations accept this proposal: The French Delegation does not.

(j) Soviet proposal: To forbid any kind of enlistment whatsoever of Displaced Persons in semi-military organisations (guard units, guard companies, etc.) now in existence or being formed on the territory of the Western Zones of Germany, and to release those Displaced Persons who already belong to such organisations.

All Delegations agree that the decision on this question will depend on the decision which may be taken on the corresponding point in the Section on Demilitarisation.

91. This Report was considered by the Council of Foreign Ministers at its 20th Meeting, April 3; see telegram 1188, Delsec 1390, April 3, from Moscow, p. 307. Regarding the Council’s actions on the various parts of this Report, see the following footnotes.

    The Special Committee had been established and instructed by the Council of Foreign Ministers at its 17th Meeting, March 30; see telegram 1093, Delsec 1367, March 30, from Moscow, p. 297.

92. The Council approved in principle this section of the Report, but the Delegations reserved the right to express a definite opinion on this section after agreement had been reached on the document as a whole.
93. The Council agreed to submit this paragraph together with a reservation by the Soviet Delegation to the Special Committee for further consideration (CFM(47) (M)64, March 26, Section III, paragraph C, p. 401).
94. The Council agreed to refer these paragraphs to the Special Committee to consider the possibility of their consolidation into one and to submit a new draft.
94. The Council agreed to refer these paragraphs to the Special Committee to consider the possibility of their consolidation into one and to submit a new draft.
95. The Council agreed to discuss this question at a date to be fixed later.