Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Germany and Austria, Volume VII, Part 2

762A.0221/5–2553: Airgram

No. 578
The Acting Secretary of State to the Office of the United States High Commissioner for Germany, at Bonn¹

secret

Washington, May 25, 1953.

A–1891. The Department has been giving thought to the Tripartite Declaration on Berlin² and the question of putting it into operation before the effective date of the conventions between the Three Powers and the Federal Republic.³

According to information available here, the text of the Declaration was published on May 26, 1952, together with a statement by the Allied Kommandatura that it was intended to replace the Statement of Principles Governing the Relationship Between the Allied Kommandatura and Greater Berlin of May 14, 1949,⁴ and would take effect at the same time as the contractuals, but was not a part of them. See A.H.C. Press Release No. 443.⁵ We have no record of subsequent action with respect to the Declaration, except the meeting of the General Committee and a Berlin delegation on August 19, 1952, reported in GEN/Memo(52)l.⁵ At this meeting the German representatives asked that the Declaration be promulgated before ratification of the contractuals, and the chairman replied that, while this could not be done, the High Commission was “prepared to consider whether, when the Bonn Conventions have been ratified by all the parties to them and if there is undue delay by other powers in ratifying the EDC Treaty, a meeting might be held by the Commandants with the Berlin Senat to consider the situation, after which it would be determined whether arrangements might be made to put certain provisions of the Declaration on Berlin into force prior to the entry into force of the Declaration.” Such an assurance would have corresponded to that given the Chancellor with respect to the contractuals in a letter dated May 26, 1952;⁶ it does not appear, however, that the assurance ever received a more formal expression, or that any question involving the Declaration has come before the High Commission or the Kommandatura since that time.

The Department wonders whether it might not be worthwhile for the Three Powers to reconsider their decision to withhold the Declaration until the conventions become effective. Although the Declaration was prepared in connection with the contractuals and even contains references, in the preamble and Article V, to the “new relations” between the Three Powers and the Federal Republic which are to be established by the contractuals, there is no inherent connection between the Declaration and the agreements. The Declaration is not a part of the agreements and does not depend upon them in any way for its effectiveness. There is no provision in the agreements which is a necessary prelude or condition to anything in the Declaration. The Declaration and the conventions have to do with different parts of Germany, and the application of one is wholly independent of the application of the other. In these circumstances, the Department would consider it arbitrary for the Three Powers to persist in relating the Declaration to the agreements, when the latter have been delayed for so long, and may continue to be delayed, for reasons which have nothing to do with the substance of the Declaration or with Berlin itself.

While the Declaration was being prepared, it was thought of as the nearest equivalent, for Berlin, to what the conventions were for the Federal Republic. In other words, Allied authority in Berlin would be reduced as far as possible, just as it would be in Western Germany, and only the different circumstances in each area would keep the reduction in authority from being the same. In point of fact, however, the High Commission has progressively limited the exercise of its authority, in some cases by completing programs, in others by transferring functions to the Germans, so that the situation in Western Germany has changed since the contractuals and the Declaration were written, and the Federal Republic now has, even without the contractuals, much greater power and independence than Berlin would have with the Declaration. There has been no corresponding change for Berlin. If the Declaration continues to be deferred for the contractuals, it is bound to seem old and stale and insufficient when it finally comes, while if it were issued now, particularly if issued freely, it might have some significance as a concession, or gesture, made by the Three Powers to meet the wishes of the Berliners.

The French should not consider such a step to be in some way an anticipation of the contractuals; it would really be an attempt to keep an unrelated subject from being tangled up in those agreements. Besides, the very fact that the Declaration would become operative at a different time from the contractuals should serve to emphasize to the French (and possibly the Soviets) that the contractuals have no connection with Berlin, and that Berlin has a separate status from that of the Federal Republic.

The Department sees no technical or formal difficulty in promulgating the Declaration now, with the possible exception of the references it contains to the “new relations” which have not yet come about between the Three Powers and the Federal Republic. These, however, might be dealt with (if at all) either by amendment of the text, or, since that might invite further modifications, by a statement to be issued by the Kommandatura when the Declaration is made effective.

The Department would welcome advice whether promulgation of the Declaration at this time would be well received by the Berliners and would therefore constitute a political gesture in the interest of the Three Powers. If Berlin Element believes this would be the case, and if HICOG agrees, it is suggested that the matter be explored with the British and French in Berlin, with a view to obtaining their consent to the final issuance of the Declaration at an early date.

Smith

1. Drafted by Auchincloss and cleared with Bonbright, Riddleberger, and L/GER. Repeated to Berlin, London, and Paris.
2. Document 538.
3. Document 51.
4. For this statement, see Documents on Germany, 1944–1985, pp. 262–264.
5. Not found in Department of State files.
5. Not found in Department of State files.
6. Document 58.