Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The British Commonwealth; Europe, Volume III

851.504/8–1247: Telegram

The United States Political Adviser for Germany (Murphy) to the Secretary of State

secret

Berlin, August 12, 1947—10 p. m.

1935. ReDeptel July 11 to Berlin as 1453, to Paris as 2572.¹ Below is quoted substance of cable OMGUS to War, commenting on proposal contained Dept’s reference telegram:

“We appreciate the difficulties of solving the problem of remittances which arise from the agreement of the United States to permit French voluntary recruitment of German labor in the US zone in return for French agreement on repatriation of German prisoners of war. However, we would like to point out that the present proposal is basically no different from the original French proposal except that we have covered up the fact that the French are permitting remittances at $0.10 rate.

“In effect we are agreeing that the French will receive reparations in the form of part payment of the wages of German workers in France at the expense of the German economy.

“If, however, we assume that German workers in France are voluntary workers in a foreign land it would appear that the workers should be permitted to send to their families in their native land any desired portion of their earnings, in which case the foreign currency thus accrued should be at the free disposal of the native country of the worker.

“In the first instance, paragraph 16 C of the revised directive on military govt of Germany would appear to be applicable, and in the second instance, paragraph 18 C of the new directive would appear to be applicable.² Both of these paragraphs would appear to be contrary to the position which we are now requested to take. It would also appear that to negotiate on the basis of the position set forth in reference cable would create an undesirable precedent if remittance practices with all other countries had to be adjusted to conform to a formula such as set forth in paragraph 2 C of reference cable.

“We do not propose to agree to the blocking of any portion of the remittances to be made by recruitees now or by optants. We know from the Embassy Paris cable 2899 of 21 July¹ that they intend to refer the matter to Berlin at an early date. We judge that by detailed discussions they refer to the remittance problem as well as the recruiting of voluntary labor.”

Sent to Paris as 340, repeated Department as 1935.

Murphy

1. Not printed.
2. For text of JCS 1779, July 11, 1947, Directive to Commander in Chief of United States Forces of Occupation Regarding the Military Government of Germany, see Department of State, Germany 1947–1949: The Story in Documents (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1950), pp. 33–41.
1. Not printed.