CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 60: USDel Minutes
United States Delegation Minutes, Council of Foreign Ministers, Eighth Meeting, Moscow, Aviation Industry House, March 18, 1947, 4 p.m.
USDel (47) (M) 8th Meeting
| Present | ||
| U.K. | ||
| Mr. Bevin (Chairman) | ||
| Sir William Strang | ||
| General Robertson | ||
| Sir Maurice Peterson | ||
| Mr. Hall-Patch | ||
| France | U.S.A | |
| M. Bidault | Secretary Marshall | |
| M. Couve de Murville | Mr. Dulles | |
| General Catroux | Mr. Cohen | |
| M. Alphand | Lt. General Clay | |
| M. de St. Hardouin | Mr. Smith | |
| Mr. Bohlen | ||
| M. Molotov(Chairman) | ||
| U.S.S.R. | ||
| M. Molotov | ||
| M. Vyshinski | ||
| M. Gousev | ||
| M. Smirnov | ||
| Marshal Sokolovsky |
Statement of the French Delegation on Economic Principles and Reparations
M. Bidault presented the views of the French Delegation on the questions of economic principles and reparations. His statement is being issued as document CFM (47) (M)29.34
Hearing of Representative of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency
M. Molotov inquired whether there were any remarks with regard to hearing a representative of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency. He proposed that the Council hear a representative of the Agency.
M. Bidault reiterated the desire of the French Government that a representative of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency be heard by the Council.
Secretary Marshall stated that he disliked very much to oppose the hearing by the Council of a representative of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency. He deplored spending a considerable amount of time hearing such representative on a question with regard to which the Ministers are all in agreement. We are all in agreement, he said, that deliveries of capital equipment should be resumed and carried out quickly. We are not in agreement, however, as to the detailed way in which such deliveries should be carried out. He did not see how executive officers of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency could help the Ministers solve this problem. He was concerned about the time that might be spent in such a hearing and also concerned about establishing a precedent.
Secretary Marshall suggested that, if these executives be heard, their report at the Council table be limited and that they go into such detail as desirable before the Deputies. He concluded by remarking that he was more interested in having representatives of the eighteen countries themselves discuss the matter before the Deputies later with respect to the German peace treaty.
Mr. Bevin stated that he was concerned about Executive officers of the Council being heard by the Council. He agreed that they might be heard by the Deputies and suggested that they be heard first by the Deputies. If we do not do that, he said we will get in trouble with the eighteen countries, for we will be putting an executive agency ahead of the government, by hearing the agency before establishing means for the governments themselves to be heard. He strongly advised that the representative of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency be heard [Page 259] by the Deputies. He concluded by remarking that the problem was really one for the Western Powers, since the IARA countries have to receive reparations from the western zones of Germany.
M. Molotov stated that the question of reparations is an unusual one insofar as it concerns many countries. This is the second communication that the Council has received from the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency.35 The first was received in New York36 and the second by the Deputies in London. It would not be right to refuse to hear proposals in which so many governments are interested.
With respect to Mr. Bevin’s point that it was a question concerning the western zones alone, he remarked that consideration[s?] of the eastern zones are being discussed here and accordingly there was no reason why questions of the western zone should not also be discussed. He declared that he was ready to accept Secretary Marshall’s suggestion that there be a short hearing by the Ministers and thereafter a more extensive discussion before the Deputies.
Mr. Bevin suggested the reverse procedure, stating that the IARA representatives should first present their views before the Deputies and if the Deputies report to the Ministers that they have something to say that the Ministers do not know, then the Ministers can hear them.
M. Molotov stated that the Soviet Government does not conceal the fact that it wants reparations from Germany, nor does it conceal the amount which it wants. From many utterances of representatives of the western powers, one might think that the western powers do not want reparations. However, it must be remembered that Great Britain and the United States have already received considerable reparations from Germany. They have received all the gold found in the western zones, German external assets except for those in eastern Europe, the German commercial fleet, and German patents and inventions. Press reports say that these reparations amount to more than ten billion dollars. Great Britain, the United States and France are at present receiving reparations from current production, e.g., coal and lumber from southern Germany.
Mr. Bevin stated his agreement with Secretary Marshall that constant recrimination does no good. He had read in the Russian press such statements as M. Molotov had just made. They were not true; in fact they were quite amusing. With respect to German patents, he said all these have been published in a book; they are open and available [Page 260] to the world, including the Soviet Union. Mr. Bevin suggested again that the IARA representatives be heard by the Deputies first, stating that other countries which requested to come here have not been invited and that it would personally put him in a difficult position if this procedure were not adhered to. Moreover, he expressed his hope that before the Council concludes its meeting an agreement might be reached with respect to participation of the belligerent allies in the examination of the German problem.
Mr. Bevin also referred to the fact that he had on a previous day offered to put on the table just what the United Kingdom had obtained from Germany by way of reparations. He had prepared figures on this matter and hoped that the other Ministers will likewise submit figures on this matter.
M. Molotov noted that of all the Ministers, only Mr. Bevin objected to the hearing of a representative of the Inter-Allied Separations Agency.
As to Secretary Marshall’s remark yesterday regarding the futility of charges and counter-charges he declared that one purpose of the meeting of the Ministers is to provide an opportunity for them to state their comments with respect to agreements which had not been fulfilled. He noted that Secretary Marshall’s very statement had contained a recrimination against the Soviet Union, and he thought that one had to be more logical and should apply one’s own principles to one’s self.
He repeated that the Soviet Delegation is concerned that agreements be fulfilled and must make comments where this is not the case. Mr. Bevin is not right, he said, in suggesting that the data on the reparations from the western zones comes from the Soviet press. The Soviet press gets news from the international press.
With respect to the value of German patents, M. Molotov referred to a statement of Mr. J. C. Green, Executive Secretary of the Bureau of Publications of the United States Department of Commerce, in which Mr. Green had commented on the immense value to the United States of these patents.
With respect to Mr. Bevin’s suggestion concerning data on reparations, M. Molotov declared that the Soviet Delegation has never refused to submit data on reparations and will do so if the other Powers likewise submit detailed data on reparations which they have received.
Secretary Marshall declared that in view of M. Molotov’s remarks, he felt obliged to make the following re-statement of the United States position:
The United States has not accepted ownership of captured German gold and is holding it for disposition by the Inter-Allied Agency. [Page 261] The Hungarian gold has already been returned. We have used United States scientists to obtain information on German science, including patents, all of which information is being published in pamphlets and made available to the rest of the world. As a matter of fact, Amtorg, the Soviet Purchasing Agency in the United States, has been so far the biggest single purchaser of these pamphlets. The pamphlets cost a nominal fee to cover printing and administrative expenses. No ten billion dollars in reparations is involved. With respect to M. Molotov’s citation of a statement of Mr. J. C. Green, Secretary Marshall said that he had been handed the following letter dated February 18, 1947, sent to an official of the State Department by Mr. Green:37
“I wonder if it might not be appropriate for General Marshall (during his trip to Moscow) to make inquiry concerning Russian acquisitions of technology from their zone of occupation. I have been repeatedly informed that the Russians did not take any technology out of their zone, but have seen no authoritative statement. If they, as I suspect, have taken scientific and technical information from their zone of occupation, we would appreciate access to it on similar terms to which they are acquiring the mass of material released by this office.
“I hope that General Marshall or someone on his advisory staff will have an opportunity to look into this matter when in Moscow.”
The United States, Secretary Marshall continued, has not taken over any money received for exports from its occupation zone of Germany. These proceeds have all been plowed back into the German economy in order to make it self-supporting. At the same time the United States has contributed large sums of money from appropriated funds to provide relief to the Germans.
Returning to the subject of hearing a [an] IARA representative, Secretary Marshall declared that if executive officers of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency are to be heard, he agreed with Mr. Bevin that his original proposal should be re-ordered so that they should first appear before the Deputies and thereafter perhaps make a limited appearance before the Ministers. He suggested that the Deputies report on this Thursday and that they tell the Ministers whether the representatives of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency can tell the Council more than the representatives of the countries have already done. Further action can be decided upon then, he concluded.
M. Bidault stated that Secretary Marshall’s proposal was acceptable to the French Delegation. The French Delegation regarded as important that the representatives of the Inter-Allied Reparations [Page 262] Agency be heard, but it did not consider the order of such hearing important.38
M. Bidault then stated that France has never received any reparations from current production, that all products received from Germany have been paid for, that in particular coal has been paid in dollars at market prices. M. Bidault proposed that further discussion of the question of hearing representatives of the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency be adjourned.
It was agreed to adjourn further discussion on this question.
Statement of the United States Delegation Regarding the Relation of the Potsdam Agreement on Reparations to Yalta Protocol
[Here follows the text of the statement by the Secretary of State printed in Germany 1947–1949, pages 371–372 and in Department of State Bulletin, March 30, 1947, page 564.]
The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 p.m.
- The text of Foreign Minister Bidault’s statement is printed in Déclarations de Bidault, pp. 14–20. For a summary of the statement, see telegram 864, Delsec 1313, March 18, from Moscow, infra.↩
- Post, p. 391.↩
- The earlier communication to the Council of Foreign Ministers from the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency, dated December 13, 1946, circulated to the Council as document CFM (46) (NY) 78, December 14, 1946, is printed in Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. ii, pp. 1562–1563.↩
- The circumstances attending the reading of the letter that follows are described in Lucius D. Clay, Decision in Germany (Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1950), p. 151.↩
- According to the Agreed Record of Decisions of this Council meeting, not printed, the Council agreed that the Deputies for Germany should be instructed to hear representatives of the I.A.R.A. and report whether the Agency should furnish more information than the countries who were members of the Agency had already submitted to the Deputies. The Council could then decide what further course to follow. (CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 60) For the Deputies Report to the Council on the hearings given to the representatives of the I.A.R.A., see document CFM (47) (M)98, April 3, 1947, p. 434.↩