Editorial Note
At the end of 1949 the Berlin City Assembly had begun revision of the 1948 city draft constitution to conform with the Basic Law of the Federal Republic. Work progressed slowly into 1950 and was then suspended pending the outcome of the approach to the Soviet sector Commandant for city-wide elections. The failure of this initiative reactivated work on coordination, and on August 4, a revised draft constitution for Berlin was adopted unanimously by the City Assembly. The new draft was considered by the three Western Commandants, and when they could not agree on its provisions, it was submitted to the Allied High Commission, which on August 23 approved [Page 826] it subject to the suspension of certain articles that proclaimed Berlin to be the twelfth Land of the Federal Republic.
For an account of these developments, the text of the 1950. Constitution and related documents, see Elmer Plischke, Berlin: Development of Its Government and Administration (Frankfort, Office of the United States High Commissioner for Germany, 1952). Documentation on the subject in the Department of State may be found in files 762A.0221 and 762A.03.