740.00119 (Potsdam)/7–3045
No. 960
Proposal by the British
Delegation1
The Soviet Union Share of Reparation British Proposal
As part of a settlement covering this and other matters, H. M. Government are ready to agree that Russia, in addition to obtaining reparation removals and deliveries from the Russian Zone of Occupation, [Page 921] shall also be entitled to receive from the Western Zones, and particularly from the Ruhr, 10% of such equipment, particularly from the heavy metal industries as it is decided to remove under an agreed Reparation Plan, which will have to provide on the one hand for eliminating German war potential to an adequate degree and which will have, on the other hand, to leave to Germany a sufficient industrial equipment to enable her to maintain approved living standards. It is the policy of H. M. Government that, in order to eliminate German war potential, there must be very considerable removals from these heavy metal industries, but they cannot express an opinion about the precise amount until a comprehensive Plan has been worked out.
The Reparation Plan will have to be such as to enable the Powers (other than the Soviet Union and Poland) entitled to reparation to obtain from the Russian Zone adequate amounts of annual deliveries of timber and potash. It will be for the Allied Commission on Reparations to work out the details.