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

Proposal by the Soviet Delegation to the Council of Foreign Ministers 1

secret

CFM/P/49/20.

Berlin and the Currency Question

In connection with the U.S.A. Delegation proposals of June 2nd, 1949,2 the U.S.S.R. Delegation proposes that the following resolution be adopted by the Council of Foreign Ministers:

1.
The four Allied Commandants shall arrange for free city-wide elections in Berlin under quadripartite control on the basis of the electoral procedure applied in October 1946.
2.

A Commission of Germans appointed on a parity basis, i.e. on the basis of equal representation from the Soviet sector on the one hand and from the Western sectors on the other, will be formed to carry out the elections in Berlin.

[Page 1049]

This Commission will perform the functions devolved upon the Magistrat under the provisions of the Electoral Law of 1946 (Chapter IV), and it will act under the control of the Inter-Allied Kommandatura.

3.
The Inter-Allied Kommandatura will revise Chapter II of the Electoral Law of 1946 which defines the persons enjoying the right to vote, with a view to limiting the number of persons who have been deprived of that right. In this connection, it would be advisable to establish the necessity for granting the voting rights to forcner members of the Nazi party and other organisations, with the exception of those who were disfranchized by a decision of the court.
4.
To establish that all political parties authorized in Greater Berlin as well as all public organisations authorized by the Inter-Allied Kommandatura, will have the right to nominate candidates in the elections to the All-Berlin Magistrat.
5.
The city administration to be constituted as a result of these new elections will be a provisional government. It will have full and adequate powers of government and will function under the temporary constitution for Greater Berlin of 1946.
6.

To draft Article 36 of the temporary constitution for Greater Berlin as follows:

“The administration of Greater Berlin is subordinate to the Inter-Allied Kommandatura and in the sectors to the Military Authorities of the respective sector, except in cases which may be specifically provided for by the Allied Control Authorities.

All legislation adopted by the City Assembly of Deputies, as well as decrees and orders issued by the City Magistrat shall conform to the laws and orders issued by the Allied Authorities in Germany, through the Inter-Allied Kommandatura of Greater Berlin. The decrees of the City Assembly and Magistrat on matters which fall within the competence of the Inter-Allied Kommandatura, are subject to approval by the Inter-Allied Kommandatura; the same applies to decrees of the City Assembly or Magistrat in the event of any of the Sector Commandants raising objections to such a decree with the Inter-Allied Kommandatura.

The approval of the Inter-Allied Kommandatura of Berlin must be obtained for effecting changes in the Constitution, resignation of the City Magistrat as a whole or of its individual members as well as the appointment or dismissal of administrative personnel of the City Administration.

The activity of the district Administration is subject to approval by the Commandants of the sectors”.

7.
The newly-elected Berlin City-Assembly will be authorized to draft a new Constitution for Greater Berlin in accordance with the provisions of Article 35 of the Berlin Constitution of 1946.
8.
The Four-Power Inter-Allied Kommandatura will be reconstituted and will exercise the following functions to coordinate all-city measures for the administration of Berlin and to ensure normal life in the whole of Berlin:
a)
Control over the observance of the Provisional Constitution of 1946;
b)
Public security (police, etc);
c)
Control over appointment and dismissal of Administrative personnel in all-Berlin organs of government;
d)
Supervision over imprisonment of persons sentenced by the Nuremberg International Tribunal;
e)
Problems of external trade of Berlin with the Western Zones and third countries;
f)
Supplies;
g)
City transport;
h)
Problems of all-city finance including all-city budget, credit, prices and taxes;
i)
Control over fuel and electric power;
j)
Communications.
9.
Of the questions enumerated in Article 8 the following shall come within the competence of the City-Assembly of Deputies and the all-Berlin Magistrat:
a)
Supplies;
b)
Problems of all-city finance including all-city budget, credit, prices and taxes;
c)
Fuel;
d)
City transport;
e)
Communications (Post, Telegraph, Telephone);
f)
Police and maintenance of public order;
g)
External trade operations;
h)
Appointment, dismissal and transfer of administrative personnel of all-Berlin organs of administration.
10.

Other matters falling within the competence of the City Assembly of Deputies and all-Berlin Magistrat, namely:

a)
Housing and house construction;
b)
Local affairs;
c)
Cultural matters;
d)
Juridical matters;
e)
Education and art;
f)
Public health;
g)
Labour;
h)
Personnel;
i)
Social insurance;
j)
Public utilities and city enterprises;
h)
Trade and industry;

may be dealt with by the Inter-Allied Kommandatura only where an [Page 1051] objection to a decision of the City Assembly and of the all-Berlin Magistrat is raised by any of the four Commandants.3

11.
All decisions of the Kommandatura shall be adopted unanimously.
12.
Occupation costs will be reduced to a minimum and will be determined by methods to be agreed on a quadripartite basis.
  1. This proposal was read by Vyshinsky at the end of the 13th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, June 6, and discussed at the next two meetings, June 7 and 8; for the reports on these meetings, see pp. 957, 962 and 965.
  2. For the text of the United States proposals, see Delsec 1839, June 2, p. 943.
  3. In CFM/P/49/20 Revised, June 6, not printed, another paragraph was added to point 10. “In this case the decision opposed shall come into force only after its approval by the Inter-Allied Kommandatura.” This paragraph was in turn, amended by CFM/P/49/24, June 7, not printed, to read: “In this case the decision thus opposed shall come into force only after it has been approved by the Inter-Allied Kommandatura. In case of disagreement, the question shall by submitted for consideration and decision to a higher authority and the decision shall not be carried out until agreement is reached.” (CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 141: CFM/P/49 Documents)