862.515/4–1348
The United States Political Adviser for Germany ( Murphy ) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas ( Saltzman )
Dear Charlie: Yesterday after the meeting of the three Military Governors with the Benelux representatives,1 General Robertson called an informal meeting of General Clay and General Noiret which I attended. It developed that he wanted to discuss the attached draft2 which he had prepared regarding the possible issue of a new currency in Berlin. This was merely an informal suggestion and there was no [Page 892] agreement to it, but General Clay had not been warned of the meeting and was not prepared to discuss the paper with which, in any event, he does not agree. I mention the matter to you merely as an index of the lack of agreement which exists on the subject of currency reform generally. It seems to me, and I know that General Clay feels that way about it, that months of time have been lost in indecision. We started-off bravely enough and put up millions of dollars for the printing of new currency, but things have really not advanced very far beyond that point. General Clay said yesterday quite frankly that he thought we ought to be ashamed of ourselves for failure to progress in the midst of a critical situation.
The Berlin situation is peculiarly difficult, surrounded as Berlin is by the Soviet zone. If the SMA decides to issue a new currency for the zone, it will be, according to the technicians, practically impossible for the Western sectors of Berlin to operate on an independent basis.
The foregoing is for your confidential information.
Sincerely yours,
- Regarding the meeting under reference here, see telegram CC–3854, April 13, from General Clay to the Department of the Army, p. 180.↩
- The paper referred to here is not printed. It outlined the steps which the American, British, and French Commanders in Chief in Germany would take should the Soviet Military Administration in Germany proclaim the issuance of a new currency in the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany.↩