740.00119 Control (Germany)/4–849
Memorandum by the Secretary of State to President Truman
Memorandum for the President
Subject: Negotiations on Germany
With reference to the daily reports I have made to you regarding our conversations with Mr. Bevin and Mr. Schuman on the subject of Germany, I take pleasure in attaching copies of the Agreements which were signed today.1 Among these, the agreed Memorandum regarding the principles governing the exercise of powers and responsibilities of the United States, United Kingdom and France following the establishment of the German Federal Republic is not intended for publication. The Occupation Statute defines the powers to be retained by the occupation authorities and will be communicated through the Military Governors to the German authorities who are now in process of framing [Page 176] a provisional constitution for Western Germany. We also agreed on a system of Tripartite Controls which we hope will provide a satisfactory basis for mutual cooperation of the three Powers in occupation of the Western Zones of Germany.
The establishment of the Western German Government, which will probably be called the German Federal Republic, will mark a change in Allied organization necessary to carry out occupation responsibilities. At such time Military Government will be terminated and the controls exercised by the United States, United Kingdom and France will be mainly supervisory. Each of the Allied establishments in Germany will come under the direction of a High Commissioner. The occupation forces, of course, will be in charge of military commanders. The three High Commissioners together will constitute an Allied High Commission which will be the supreme agency of control in Western Germany. It was also agreed that in order to permit the German Federal Republic to exercise increased responsibility for domestic affairs and to reduce the burden of occupation costs, personnel would be kept at a minimum. German Government Authorities will be at liberty to take administrative and legislative action, and such action will have validity if not disapproved by Allied Authorities. There will, of course, be certain limited fields in which the Allies will reserve the right to take direct action themselves, or to direct German Authorities to take action.
It was also agreed that a major objective of the three Allied Governments is to encourage and facilitate the closest integration, on a mutually beneficial basis, of the German people under a democratic federal state within the framework of a European Association. It was understood that after its establishment, the German Federal Republic will negotiate a separate bilateral ECA Agreement with the United States participating as a member in the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, thus becoming a responsible partner in the European Recovery Program.
I would like to add a brief word of appreciation of the wholehearted cooperation which has been given by the Economic Cooperation Administration and the Department of the Army. Mr. Hoffman and members of his staff, and Mr. Royall and Mr. Voorhees of Army were both kind enough to be present at today’s signing of these Agreements.
I am convinced that the success of these negotiations on German affairs has been greatly facilitated by the conclusion of the North Atlantic Treaty. Without it, I doubt that we could have come to a successful conclusion of these Agreements at this time.
- Infra. ↩