218. Editorial Note
On September 17, a German Democratic Republic delegation, headed by Otto Grotewohl, Walter Ulbricht, and Lothar Bolz, arrived in Moscow for a State visit. On September 20, the German Democratic Republic and the Soviet Union signed a treaty restoring sovereignty to the former. At the same time Deputy Foreign Minister Zorin and Foreign Minister Bolz exchanged letters clarifying the control functions in the Soviet Zone of occupation. For texts of these documents, see Otnosheniia, pages 649–652. Reports from the Embassy [Page 538] in Moscow about the visit are in Department of State, Central File 661.62B.
In reaction to these events, the United States consulted with the British, French, and West Germans concerning possible responses. One step was consultations in New York by the Foreign Ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Federal Republic which resulted in a statement on September 28 reiterating the responsibility which the Soviet Union had in Germany and repeating that only the Federal Republic of Germany constituted a freely-elected government capable of speaking for the German people. A second step was the drafting at Bonn of identic tripartite notes reaffirming these same principles. The notes were delivered to the Soviet Foreign Ministry on October 3.
Documentation relating to the drafting of these two documents is ibid., 661.62B. For text of the statement of September 28, see Department of State Bulletin, October 10, 1955, pp. 559–560. For text of the U.S. note as delivered, see ibid., October 17, 1955, page 616.