Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, Central and Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume IV

762.00/5–950: Telegram

The Director of the Berlin Element, HICOG (Page) to the Office of the United States High Commissioner for Germany, at Frankfort¹

plain
priority

Berlin, May 9, 1950.

839. Following letter dated May 8 re Berlin elections received evening May 8:

“Dear General: I acknowledge receipt of a copy of your letter, dated 21 April 1950,² and forwarded by you to the Oberbuergermeister of the Western sectors of Berlin, on the subject of carrying out elections for Berlin as a whole. Even though the proposals contained in your letter had not been duly submitted to the appropriate quadripartite organs, and were addressed to the Oberbuergermeister of Berlin’s Western sectors, I deem it necessary, nevertheless, in view of the question posed by you with respect to holding over all Berlin elections, and its bearing on the unity of Berlin, to make, on my own part, the following statement:

As is known, the Soviet Government had submitted, as early as June ’49, for consideration by the Council of Foreign Ministers a proposal with a view to holding free all city elections in Berlin under quadripartite supervision.³ The representative of the Soviet Control Commission in Berlin, being guided by that proposal, was and is in favor of holding, as early as possible, free elections throughout Berlin aiming at the restoration of the city’s unity along democratic lines.

The representative of the Soviet Control Commission deems it advisable that free democratic elections in Berlin be carried out subject to the following conditions:

1. Free democratic elections throughout Berlin must be carried out under quadripartite supervision, based on the electoral procedure that was adhered to in October 1946.

2. For the purpose of holding elections in Berlin, a German commission is to be set up on a basis of parity, i.e., on the basis of equal representation from the Soviet sector, on the one hand, and the Western sectors, on the other.

The functions of the commission will be the same as those which, pursuant to the provision concerning the 1946 elections (Chapter IV), were enjoyed by the Magistrat, and it will operate under quadripartite supervision.

3. Chapter II of the provisions concerning the 1946 elections, defining those persons who are entitled to electoral privileges, is to be revised with a view to curtailing the number of persons who are deprived of such privileges. In so doing, it is necessary to bear in mind the importance of establishing a procedure that will grant electoral privileges to former members of the NSDAP and of the other Nazi organizations, other than those persons who have been deprived of electoral privileges by a decision of a court.

4. The right to nominate candidates for election to an all Berlin magistrat (sic) should be shared by all political parties authorized in Greater Berlin, as well as by all public organizations sanctioned by the Inter Allied Commandatura.

5. The elected city administration is to function on the basis of the 1946 constitution for Greater Berlin.

6. The occupation statute for Berlin’s Western sectors, introduced in May 1949,⁴ by a separatist decision of the commandants of the 3 Western sectors of Berlin, is to be abrogated, and the German democratic organizations must be accorded the right to unrestricted activities in the Western sectors of the city.

7. With a view to creating conditions prerequisite to holding genuinely free and democratic Berlin elections in an atmosphere of tranquility, the garrisons of all the occupying powers shall be withdrawn from Berlin, and a division of Berlin into sectors is to be abolished.

The proposals, outlined above, represent the only correct means of insuring genuinely free and democratic elections throughout Berlin, and any implementation of these proposals would constitute an important contribution to the restoration of Germany’s unity along democratic lines.

Letters of identical content have also been forwarded to the Commandants of the British and French sectors of Berlin. Sincerely, Signed, A. Yelisarov, Colonel of the Guards, Deputy Representative, Soviet Control Commission in Berlin.”

Sent Frankfort 839, repeated Department 699, Paris 224, London for USDel 57, Bonn 58. Department pass Moscow 44.

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1. The source text was sent as 699 to the Department of State.
2. Regarding the Commandants’ letter to the City Assembly, approved by the High Commission on April 20, see footnote 3, p. 843.
3. For the text of the Soviet proposal, CFM/P/49/20, dated June 6, see Foreign Relations, 1949, vol. iii, p. 1048.
4. For the text of the “Little Occupation Statute” for Berlin, see Germany, 1947–1949: The Story in Documents (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1950), pp. 324–326.