Office of the Historian

Editorial Note

At an informal meeting on October 13, the Council of the Allied High Commission for Germany considered three letters from West German Chancellor Adenauer concerning dismantling. The first letter requested the discussion of dismantling with the West German Government and suspension of further dismantling until the Allied Governments had come to a decision on the whole program. In the second letter Adenauer proposed two alternative plans with regard to the August Thyssen Steel Works at Duisberg. The first plan would have created a company with those countries that were allocated part of the plant holding shares in proportion to the value of their reparations, but with the steel works remaining in Germany. In the other plan the Federal Republic would have furnished new or equivalent steel plant elements, taken partly from stocks on hand and partly from new production, as substitution for the August Thyssen Steel Works. The third letter called attention to the dismantling of the Gelsenberg Benzin Plant which seemed incompatible with the provisions of the Prohibited and Limited Industries Agreement.

In the course of its discussion of these letters, the Council agreed to meet with Adenauer at 9:30 on October 14.

The full texts of the three letters from Adenauer were transmitted in telegram 18, October 13, from Bonn, not printed (740.00119 EW/10–1349), and the record of the Council’s meeting was transmitted in telegram 19, October 14, from Bonn, not printed (862.00/10–1449).

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When the Allied High Commissioners met with Adenauer, the Chancellor repeated his arguments for slowing down the dismantling program, especially at the August Thyssen works, and the Commissioners indicated that they were not in a position to reply definitively with respect to his arguments at that time, although the French Commissioner, François-Poncet, noted that he had been delaying the dismantlement of the UN Borsig plant for three months. The record of this meeting was transmitted in telegram 3136, October 15, from Frankfurt, page 416.