Office of the Historian

Editorial Note

On April 20, 1948, representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg resumed their discussions in London on German problems. These discussions, constituting the second part of the London Conference on Germany, were concluded on June 1. The Conference was not conducted within rigid, formal lines. Much of the work of the Conference was carried on in small meetings and conversations between members of the various delegations. During the early weeks of this resumed session, the larger meetings of the delegations were designated as formal or, more often, as informal meetings of the Conference. In the latter stages of the Conference, however, this type of meeting designation was apparently not attempted.

Membership of the various delegations included the following:

united states delegation

Representative

  • Lewis W. Douglas, Ambassador in the United Kingdom
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Special Advisers

  • General Lucius D. Clay, Military Governor for Germany and Commander in Chief, European Command
  • Robert D. Murphy, Political Adviser for Germany
  • Samuel Reber, Deputy Director, Office of European Affairs, Department of State
  • Frank G. Wisner, Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas

Advisers

  • Commander William C. Butler
  • Lieutenant Colonel James W. Coutts, Department of the Army
  • John C. deWilde, Associate Chief, Division of Occupied Areas Economic Affairs, Department of State
  • Donald D. Humphrey, Deputy Economic Adviser to the Military Governor for Germany
  • E. Allan Lightner, Jr., Associate Chief, Division of Central European Affairs
  • Edward Litchfield, Director, Civil Administration Division, Office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.)
  • Fritz Oppenheimer, Special Assistant to the Legal Adviser, Department of State
  • James W. Riddleberger, Counselor, Office of the Political Adviser for Germany
  • Lawrence Wilkinson, Economic Adviser to the Military Governor for Germany

Secretary

  • Kenyon C. Bolton, Division of International Conferences
  • united kingdom delegation

Representative

  • Sir William Strang, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the German Section, Foreign Office

Advisers

  • General Sir Brian Robertson, Commander-in-Chief in Germany Sir Ivone Kirkpatrick, Assistant Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office
  • Patrick H. Dean, Head, German Political Department, Foreign Office
  • John W. Nicholls, Head, German Trade Department, Foreign Office
  • Christopher E. Steel, Political Adviser to the Commander-in-Chief in Germany
  • E. S. Jackson, Deputy-President, Economic Sub-Commission, C.G.G.(B.E.)
  • Sir Wilfred Eady, Second Secretary, Treasury

french delegation

Representative

  • René Massigli, Ambassador in the United Kingdom.
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Advisers

  • Maurice Couve de Murville, Director General for Political Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs
  • Hervé Alphand, Director General for Economic, Financial, and Technical Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs
  • General Pierre Koenig, Commander-in-Chief for Germany
  • Jacques Tarbé de Saint-Hardouin, Political Adviser to the Commander-in-Chief in Germany
  • Jacques-Camille Paris, Minister Counselor of the Embassy in London
  • General Perruche
  • Pierre de Leusse, Deputy Director, Office of Central European Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs
  • François Seydoux Fornier de Clausonne, Commissariat for German and Austrian Affairs

belgian delegation

Representative

  • Baron Hervé de Gruben, Secretary General of the Belgian Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Advisers

  • Vicomte Alain Obert de Thieusies, Ambassador in the United Kingdom
  • Lieutenant General Georges Goethals, Chief of the Military Mission at Berlin

netherlands delegation

Representative

  • Jonkheer Edgar Michiels van Verduynen, Ambassador in the United Kingdom

Adviser

  • Dr. H. M. Hirschfeld, Commissioner for German Affairs, Ministry for Foreign Affairs

luxembourg delegation

Representative

  • André Clasen, Minister in the United Kingdom

Adviser

  • Colonel Albert Wehrer, Chief of the Military Mission at Berlin

The documentation that follows comprises the major Conference agreements and decisions, selections from Ambassador Douglas’ telegraphic reports on the proceedings of the Conference, various Department instructions and observations, and certain other related, supplementary papers. There appears to be no complete collection of United States Delegation minutes of the various meetings constituting this portion of the London Conference on Germany. Such Delegation [Page 194] minutes as are available, the texts of the formal Conference documents, and a variety of Delegation position papers, drafts, and correspondence are included in CFM Files, Lot M–88, Box 118.