762A.00/10–350: Telegram
The United States High Commissioner for Germany (McCloy) to the Acting Secretary of State
2791. For Byroade. PEPCO. Inasmuch as Adenauer letter (Bonn’s 183 October 2 repeated Frankfort 206, Paris 35, London 38, Moscow 51) de-emphasizes Bundestag resolution on which proposed letter to Chuikov transmitted mytel 2722 October 1 (repeated Bonn 53, Berlin 186, Paris 222, London 199, Moscow 32) was based, and specifically requests that Federal Republic conditions for all-German elections be forwarded to SCC via Chuikov, I think Department will agree that we must comply in manner which will not involve US in renewal offer to negotiate with SCC and, preferably, soonest and if possible before Soviet Zone elections.
Accordingly, following text proposed in substitution former draft and Bonn Liaison requested pass it to British and French with request [Page 664] they, if necessary, submit it for clearances in effort adhere to original timetable of release this week-end:
“I refer to my letter of May 25, 19502 as yet unacknowledged by you, which informed you of conditions under which the German Federal Republic and my Government would find it possible to join with the Soviet Union in effecting the reunification of Germany through free all-German elections, and transmit herein the translated texts of three documents of recent date which bear on this subject and the relation of free all-German elections to the ‘elections’ now scheduled for October 15, 1950, in the Soviet Zone of occupation.
The first document is a resolution of the Bundestag, adopted September 14, 1950, by all political parties represented therein except the KPD, which, among other things, requests the occupation powers to arrange for all-German elections. The second is statement made on the same day by the Federal Chancellor on behalf of the Federal Government, in which it is announced that the Federal Republic will not recognize the validity of the October 15 ‘elections’ in the Soviet Zone. The third is a letter addressed by the Federal Chancellor to the Chairman of the Allied High Commission under date of October 2, 1950, which, with reference to paragraph 2 of the Bundestag’s resolution of September 14 under reference, enumerates the conditions on which the Federal Republic requests the four powers now engaged in the occupation of Germany to agree to effect German reunification through free all-German elections.
You will find upon examination that the procedures set forth in the Chancellor’s letter are the same as those enunciated in the Bundestag’s resolution of March 22, 1950, transmitted to you with my letter of May 25, and that they are, therefore, within the context of my letter under reference, procedures acceptable to my government.
The Federal Republic is, as you know, a freely elected Government and, as you will have learned from the communiqué issued by the Foreign Ministers of the UK, France and the US at New York City on September 19, 1950, is considered by my government, pending the unification of Germany, as the only German Government freely and legitimately constituted and, consequently, entitled to speak for Germany. The documents transmitted to you with this letter reflect the predominant will of the German people. I, therefore, commend them to your attention and to your government as pronouncements of the German people in respect of grave matters affecting their future and that of their country.
You will have noted that the Foreign Ministers, in their communiqué of September 19, stated that the staging of controlled elections of the type now scheduled in the Soviet Zone for October 15 negated the principle of effecting German unification through free all-German elections. The single-list ‘elections’ will deny to East Germany democratic parliamentary government and those democratic processes under which German unification can become reality. The Soviet Union is committed under Potsdam and other international agreements to these objectives and must bear full responsibility for obstructing their accomplishment. The procedures under which these ‘elections’ will be held are in direct contrast with the traditional requisites of free [Page 665] democratic elections as enunciated in the Bundestag’s resolutions of March 22 and September 14, and in my letter of May 25. For this reason I and my government, nor the Federal Republic, nor the German people can recognize them as capable of conferring on the East German regime either legitimacy or any claim to represent the German people now living in East Germany.
On behalf of my government, I emphatically protest the ‘elections’ now scheduled for October 15 in the Soviet Zone as neither free nor democratic, as contravening international agreements relating to the development of democratic institutions in Germany, and as designed to prevent the unification of Germany.”
Reasons for forwarding Adenauer formula bound up in simple logic that Chancellor’s letter asks us to implement our announced position on Germany unification, reiterated in Foreign Ministers communiqué of September 19, and cannot in all probability be kept from press. Refusal to move forward with Federal Republic initiative would thus undermine German faith in our bona fides, create doubt that propagandist motives rather than political resolve motivated our approach to vital issue of reunification, and leave impression of Allied weakness vis-à-vis Soviet Union. We feel that risks of acceptance now are more minimal than was case with May 25 letter since Soviet offensive not spent in Germany and momentum behind October 15 elections and Sovietization East Germany too great to be brought to halt on this issue. More convincing perhaps is fact that if Soviets want to propose negotiations on this issue way is open under May 25 letter and will remain open under that letter since draft submitted herewith does not make new offer.3
Department pass Moscow; sent Department 2791 Niact, Bonn 55, repeated information Paris 229, London 203, Moscow 33.
- Not printed; for the text of Adenauer’s letter, see Documents on German Unity (Frankfort, Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, 1951), p. 156.↩
- See telegram 121, May 25, p. 641.↩
- The text of this letter was approved in telegram 2567, October 5, to Frankfort, not printed (762A.00/10–350). It was discussed on the same day, along with a British draft, at an informal meeting of the Allied Council, which agreed that the Political Advisers should combine the two versions. The final draft, incorporating the ideas but not the language of the United States text, was cabled to Washington and approved on October 6, dated October 9, to be delivered October 10 and published on the 11th. For its text, see Documents on German Unity, (Frankfort, Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, 1951), p. 157, or Margaret Carlyle, ed., Documents on International Affairs, 1949–1950 (London, Oxford University Press, 1953), pp. 165–166. The minutes of the informal Council meeting are in Bonn Embassy Files, McCloy Project: Lot 311: Box 359: D(50) 2275e. Telegraphic reportage on these discussions is in files 762.00 and 762A.00.↩