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

CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 60

Record of Decisions of the Council of Foreign Ministers, First Meeting, Moscow, Aviation Industry House, March 10, 1947, 5 p.m.

Moscow, March 10, 1947, 5 p.m.

secret
CFM (47) (M) 1st Meeting

	Present
	U.S.S.R.
	M. Molotov (Chairman)
	M. Vyshinski
	M. Gousev
	Marshal Sokolovsky
	M. Smirnov
	M. Semenov
U.K.		U.S.A
Mr. Bevin		Mr. Marshall
Sir M. Peterson		Mr. Smith
Lord Hood		Mr. Cohen
Sir E. Hall-Patch		Mr. Dulles
Mr. Dixon		Mr. Murphy
		Mr. Bohlen
	France
	M. Bidault
	General Catroux
	M. Couve de Murville
	M. Alphand
	M. de St. Hardouin

I. Selection of Chairman and Time of Meeting of the Council

It was agreed:

a. that the head of the U.S.S.R. Delegation should be Chairman of the first meeting of the Council in Moscow;

b. that at subsequent meetings the chairmanship should rotate in accordance with the customary procedure of the Council; and

c. that normally the Council should meet at 4 p.m.

II. Agenda of the Present Session

It was agreed to add to the Agenda of the Moscow Session of the Council which was accepted in New York (CFM/46/NY/74)⁸⁹ consideration of the financial position of Trieste (CFM/47/M/2).⁹⁰

After an exchange of views, a decision as to the inclusion of the following subjects in the Agenda was postponed to the following meeting:

a, letter of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency (CFM/47/M/l),⁹¹ which was communicated to the Council by the Deputies;

b, information to be given to the Council by participants in the Moscow Agreement on China of December, 1945, concerning execution of the decisions of the conference (proposal by the U.S.S.R. Delegation–CFM/46/NY/7);⁹²

c, reduction of occupation forces in Europe (proposal by the U.S. Delegation–CFM/46/NY/59).⁹³

III. Work of the Deputies for Germany and Austria

It was agreed that the Deputies for Austria of the Foreign Ministers and the Deputies for Germany of the Foreign Ministers should at the present session of the Council continue the work which they had begun in London.

The Members of the Council communicated the names of their appointed Deputies as follows:

U.S.S.R. Delegation
Deputy for Austria	—	F. T. Gousev
Deputy for Germany	—	A. Y. Vyshinski
U.S. Delegation
Deputy for Austria	—	General Clark
Deputy for Germany	—	Mr. Murphy
French Delegation
Deputy for Austria	—	M. Paris
Deputy for Germany	—	M. Couve de Murville
U. K. Delegation
Deputy for Austria	—	Lord Hood
Deputy for Germany	—	Sir William Strang

IV. Liquidation of Prussia

It was agreed to approve the decision of the Allied Control Council for Germany regarding the liquidation of the Prussian State (see Annex⁹⁴).

V. Report of the Allied Control Council for Germany to the Council of Foreign Ministers⁹⁵

It was agreed to instruct the Deputies for Germany to discuss on the morning of March 11 the order in which the Report of the Allied Control Council for Germany should be considered and to make a recommendation on this question to the Council.

VI. Next Meeting

Next meeting of the Council: March 11, 1947, at 4 p.m.

Meetings of the Deputies for Austria and the Deputies for Germany: March 11, 1947, at 10 a.m.

89. For the text of the document under reference here, dated December 12, 1946, setting forth the decisions of the Council of Foreign Ministers with respect to the agenda for its next session, see Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. ii, p. 1557.
90. The document under reference, the Report of the Trieste Commission of Inquiry, is not printed; see footnote 28, p. 163.
91. See post, p. 391.
92. The document under reference, dated March 10, 1947, was the statement on China by Foreign Minister Molotov, made in the course of the Council’s 1st Meeting, March 10. For the text of the statement, see V. M. Molotov, Speeches and Statements Made at the Moscow Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, March 10–April 24, 1947 (London, “Soviet News”, 1947), p. 121.
93. Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. ii, p. 1466.
94. The Annex is not printed. It consisted of a translation of the Allied Control Council for Germany Law No. 46 on the abolition of the State of Prussia. For the text of the law, see Germany 1947–1949, p. 151, or Ruhm von Oppen Documents on Germany, p. 210.
95. At the close of its Third Session in New York, November 4–December 12, 1946, the Council of Foreign Ministers agreed to instruct the Allied Control Council for Germany to submit to the Council of Foreign Ministers by February 25, 1947, a report dealing with the work of the Control Council since its creation and the problems of the political, economic and financial situation of Germany; see Items II, 1 and III of CFM (46) (NY) 74, December 12, 1947, Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. ii, p. 1557. The final portions of the Report requested by the Council of Foreign Ministers were completed and approved by the Allied Control Council for Germany at its 55th Meeting, February 25, 1947; see telegram 467, February 26, 1947, from Berlin, p. 855. The Report, which covered many hundreds of pages and weighed approximately six pounds, was divided into the following major sections: I. Demilitarization, II. Denazification, III. Democratization, IV. Economic Problems, V. Reparations, VI. Central Administration, VII. Population Transfers, VIII. Territorial Reorganization, IX. Liquidation of Prussia. The complete text of the Report, which has not been printed, is included in CFM Files, Lot M–88, Box 89.