Editorial Note
The Intergovernmental Study Group on Germany (ISG) resumed its deliberations in London on October 26, working on the basis of the Foreign Ministers directive of September 19 Massigli, Gainer, and Douglas continued to head the delegations of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, respectively. Work on the revision of the Prohibited and Restricted (Limited) Industries Agreement (PLI), claims against Germany, restitution, and foreign interests in Germany was resumed in London by the ISG, while the review of the Occupation Statute, the Charter of the Allied High Commission, the Agreement as to Tripartite Controls, and the Berlin Statement of Principles were considered by the Allied High Commission and the Allied Kommandatura at Berlin ad referendum to the ISG and respective governments. The Benelux countries were consulted on matters of concern to them, as had been agreed by the Foreign Ministers in their conversation on September 19.
The most nearly complete set of records for the third phase of the ISG is in CFM Files: Lot M–88: Boxes 163–154 and 196 ff., comprising briefs, documents, memoranda, minutes, and telegrams concerning the activities of the group, its committees, and subcommittees. Two other lot files are of considerable importance for the work of the ISG and the discussions of the Allied High Commission: Bonn Embassy Files: Lot 311: Box 359 and London Embassy Files: Lot 59 F 59: Box 1452: 350 Germany. These records are supplemented by the decimal files of the Department of State, particularly the following: 396.1–ISG/9–2850, 396.1–NE/9–2850, 740.5/10–150, 762A.00/9–2350, 762A.0221/9–2950, and 862A.10/10–1050.
The documentation that follows, because of the volume and detail of these records, illustrates only the main lines of United States policy with regard to the ISG and particularly with respect to the revision of the PLI. For an account of the revision of the Occupation Statute [Page 775] during phase three, see Elmer Plischke, Revision of the Occupation Statute for Germany (Frankfort, Office of U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, 1952); for a short account of the revision of the Berlin Statement of Principles, see Elmer Plischke, Berlin: Development of Its Government and Administration (Frankfort, Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, 1951), pages 24 ff. For the text of the Foreign Ministers directive to the ISG, see Document 37 Final, volume III, page 1286; for a memorandum of their conversation with the Benelux Foreign Ministers on September 19, see ibid, page 1242. A copy of the report on the discussions during the third phase, October 26–December 16, IGG(50) 194, is in file 396.1–ISG/1–451.