740.0011 EW (Peace)/2–1447
Memorandum by the Counselor of the Department of State (Cohen) to the Secretary of State
Washington, February 14,
1947.
Subject: Important Principles Involved in Austrian and German Peace Settlements
A. Austrian Settlement.
[Here follows a very brief summary of the points regarding an Austrian settlement made in Cohen’s memorandum of February 12, to the Secretary, page 158.]
B. German Settlement.
- 1.
- Germany should be disarmed and demilitarized and should be kept disarmed and demilitarized. Germany should not be allowed to become a pawn or a partner in a struggle for power between the East and the West.
- 2.
- We adhere to the Potsdam Agreement that Germany as the aggressor should be obliged to pay reparations to the extent that reparations can be paid over a reasonable period of time without depriving the German people of resources necessary to enable them to subsist at a minimum average European standard of life without external assistance. America is not prepared to finance the payment of reparations. America is not prepared to agree to greater reparations being imposed upon Germany than is required by the principles agreed to at Potsdam.
- 3.
- German economic recovery is essential to the economic recovery of Europe as a whole and should be encouraged in a manner to advance the recovery of Europe as a whole. The economic recovery of Germany should not be given priority over the economic recovery of the Allied countries, but no obstacle should be placed in the way of the efforts of the German people to speed their own economic recovery so far as they can do so consistent with their obligations to pay reparations and to share equitably with their neighbors their steel and coal resources now in short supply. We are opposed to Germany becoming again the economic master of Europe, but we are equally opposed to the shortsighted policy of trying to make Germany a vassal state.
- 4.
- We believe that the internal management of their own political,
economic and social affairs should be entrusted to the German people
as rapidly as possible, subject to the following basic obligations
or safeguards:
- (a)
- the observance of agreed provisions of disarmament and demilitarization;
- (b)
- the fulfilment of the reparation obligations and the equitable distribution of the Ruhr resources between Germany and the rest of Europe so long as there is a shortage of steel and coal;
- (c)
- the maintenance of democratic institutions and the observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
- (d)
- the decentralization of political power among the länder so far as is compatible with the treatment of Germany as an economic unit.
- 5.
- Occupying powers should not use the occupation to secure special economic advantages for themselves or their nationals.
- 6.
- Occupation troops in Germany should be limited to the minimum constabulary forces necessary to protect Allied Military Government and its functions in Germany.
- 7.
- War prisoners, not guilty of war crimes, should be promptly repatriated.
- 8.
- We will do our best to carry out these principles in agreement with our Allies. But insofar as we cannot reach unanimous agreement [Page 166] on the methods of carrying out these principles, we will carry them out in our own jurisdiction and in conjunction with such of our allies as will cooperate with us, leaving the door open always for the rest of our allies to join with us when they will. This is subject to the condition that to maintain our relative position we should not reduce our troop strength disproportionately in relation to our other allies.