Editorial Note
The Preparatory Constitutional Committee (Commission of Experts), which had been appointed by the Ministers President of the three Western Zones of Occupation of Germany, met at Herrenchiem-see, Bavaria, from August 10 to August 23, 1948. The Committee consisted of approximately thirty-five delegates and was under the chairmanship of Dr. Anton Pfeiffer. The final report of the Committee (Bericht über den Verfassungskonvent auf Herrenchiemsee von 10. bis 23. August 1948), which comprised several hundred pages, was presented to and accepted by the Ministers President at their meeting at Jagdschloss Niederwald (Ruedesheim) on August 31. Included as an appendix to the Report was a complete draft constitution, subsequently referred to as the “Chiemsee draft” or the “Chiemsee proposal”. The body of the Report consisted of an extensive analysis of the considerations underlying the draft constitution and a commentary on individual articles of the draft. For the English text of the Chiemsee draft as translated and summarized by the Civil Administration Division of OMGUS, see Documents on the Creation of the German Federal Constitution, [Page 419] pages 64–77. Ambassador Murphy transmitted to the Department of State a summary of the Chiemsee report as an enclosure to his despatch 1335, September 11, from Berlin, neither printed (862.011/9–1148). In a report dated August 31, not printed, Carl J. Friedrich, Government Affairs Expert of OMGUS, reviewed the work of the Preparatory Constitutional Committee and observed that the result of the Committee’s work was gratifying from the standpoint of American policy. The Chiemsee proposals were clearly those of a democratic constitution, the governmental structure was definitely of a federal type providing for eventual German unity, the rights of the states were protected, adequate central authority was provided, and individual rights and freedoms were effectively guaranteed (740.00119 Control (Germany)/8–3148).