Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Council of Foreign Ministers; Germany and Austria, Volume III

CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 141: CFM/P/49 Documents

Proposal by the United States Delegation to the Council of Foreign Ministers ¹

secret

Paris, 6th June 1949.

CFM/P/49/18

The Exercise of Controls With Reference to Paragraph 4 of the U.S. Proposal of June²

Preamble

In order to enable the Government of Greater Berlin to exercise effectively its proper functions and pending the adoption of a permanent Constitution, the city administration shall exercise its powers through the governmental organization provided for in the temporary Constitution of Greater Berlin. The provisions of this Constitution will remain in force with the exception of Article 36, which will be deleted. Provisions regarding allied control are set forth below.

a. powers of the occupation authorities and of the municipal authorities of greater berlin

The authorities of Greater Berlin shall exercise legislative, executive and judicial powers subject only to the reservation by the occupation authorities of powers in the fields hereinafter enumerated, including the right to request and verify information and statistics required by the Allied Kommandatura.

1. In the following fields the Allied authorities will act directly and the Berlin authorities will conform to their directions:

i) Disarmament and demilitarization, including related fields of scientific research, prohibitions and restrictions on industry and civil aviation.

ii) Reparations, restitution, decartelization and deconcentration, the protection of foreign interests and foreign claims against Berlin and its inhabitants.

iii) Matters relating to protection and security of the Allied forces, dependents, employees and official representatives, their immunities and satisfaction of occupation costs and their other requirements.

iv) Control of the care and treatment in German prisons of persons charged before or sentenced by the courts or tribunals of the occupying powers, or occupation authorities; over the carrying out of sentences imposed on them and other questions of amnesty, pardon or release in relation to them.

v) Quadripartite supervision of elections, including electoral preparations and campaigns.

2. In the following fields, the responsibility for action shall normally be that of the Greater Berlin authorities; the occupying authorities reserving the right, however, to act directly or through directives to the municipal authorities who will conform to such directives.

i) Protection of the basic rights of the freedom of the person, speech, religion, press, radio, assembly and association and the independence of the judiciary and protection against arbitrary arrest, search and seizure.

ii) Protection of the freedom of legitimate action for authorized political parties.

iii) Protection of the elected deputies and city officials against interference in the performance of their functions under the constitution so as to ensure the independence of the city administration and the exercise of its legitimate authority.

iv) Relations with foreign authorities other than the occupying authorities.

3. Amendments to the temporary constitution, adoption of a new constitution, and subsequent amendments thereof shall be subject to prior approval of the occupation authorities.

4. Legislation and regulations by the Greater Berlin authorities in the fields not specifically mentioned in paragraphs 1 or 3 above and” not the subject of a directive issued by the Allied occupation authorities under 2 above shall be deemed to be within their competence and shall become effective unless disapproved by the Kommandatura. Legislation “shall be submitted to the Kommandatura and shall become effective unless disapproved within 21 days of its receipt.

5. The occupation authorities reserve the right to resume in whole or in part the exercise of full authority if they consider that to do so is essential to security or to preserve democratic government, or in pursuance of international obligations of their governments. Before doing so, they will formally advise the appropriate Berlin authorities of their decision and of the reasons therefor.

b. exercise of allied controls

The powers of the occupation authorities will be exercised in accordance with the following provisions:

1. Actions of the Kommandatura will be taken by unanimous decision but if unanimous agreement is not reached each Sector Commandant may take whatever action he considers appropriate in his; own Sector with respect to the following matters alone:

i) Protection and security of the Allied forces, dependents, employees and official representatives.

ii) Protection of the elected deputies and city officials against inter ference in the performance of their functions under the constitution so as to ensure the independence of the city administration and the exercise of its legitimate authority.

iii) Control of the care and treatment in German prisons of persons charged before or sentenced by the courts or tribunals of the occupying powers or occupation authorities; over the carrying out the sentences imposed on them and other questions of amnesty, pardon or release in relation to them.

2. Occupation costs will [be] reduced to a minimum and will be determined by methods to be agreed by unanimous vote of the Kommandatura.

3. Unless unanimously agreed to the contrary, elections, including electoral preparations and campaigns, will be subject to quadripartite supervision to be exercised jointly throughout Greater Berlin.

1. This proposal was discussed by the Council of Foreign Ministers at its 13th through 15th meetings, June 6–8, 1949; for the reports on these meetings, see pp. 957, 962 and 965. The text was the product of a tripartite Western working party report, dated June 4, not printed (CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 141: Staff Papers—Germany 1949), which was discussed at a meeting of the Western Foreign Ministers at the Quai d’Orsay, June 6, before the 13th meeting of the Council. The record of the three Ministers meeting, not printed, is in the CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 140: Tripartite Meeting of the Ministers.
2. For the text of this proposal, see Delsec 1839, June 2, p. 943.