Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1945, General: Political and Economic Matters, Volume II

740.00119 Control (Germany)/10–945: Telegram

The United States Political Adviser for Germany (Murphy) to the Secretary of State

Berlin, October 9, 1945—8 p.m.
[Received October 9—6 p.m.]

727. 1. Reference your 417, October 3, 5 p.m., to Dept.³³ My 621, September 25, 12 p.m., to Department was based on cable sent from USFET (United States Forces European Theater) to Commanding General Eastern Military District, US zone Germany. Full information on which statement relative to treatment of Germans by Czechs was based is not available here but has been requested. Military authorities here do state, however, that US military personnel in Czechoslovakia have been eye witnesses of instances where German population of Czech villages has been instructed to report at a given meeting place and has been forcibly evicted, frequently being stripped there or on road of few personal possessions being carried and also being beaten if resistance was shown to eviction. This treatment has been of sufficient frequency or sufficiently widespread, I am informed, to cause concern among US military commanders over anti-Czech sentiments which have developed as a consequence among their personnel.

2. Closure of border between US zone, Germany and Czechoslovakia to population movements is more theoretical than actual. Surreptitious and illegal crossings are not unknown.

3. Relative to dilatory tactics of “Western Powers” in expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia and entrance of Czech Mission to present arguments therefor, following action has been taken in Political Directorate, Allied Control Authority. On September 21, US delegate introduced a paper³⁴ recommending acceptance of Czech Government offer to send special temporary delegation to discuss population transfers. Paper was discussed at September 28 meeting of Directorate.³⁵ In meantime, however, responsibility of population transfers had been shifted to Prisoner of War, and Displaced Persons Directorate, so Political Directorate referred matter to latter with the favorable recommendation that the delegation be received as soon as the POW Directorate³⁶ feels that the delegation will be of assistance.

4. In the POW Directorate, the US delegate³⁷ on Sept 14, introduced for consideration a memorandum³⁸ by which the powers occupying Germany agreed to receive back, each in its own zone, those German nationals who fled into Austria and Czechoslovakia as a result of the war. It was further provided that movement of these Germans would commence as soon as coordination by transportation officials could be effected and was to be completed, if possible, prior to Nov 1, 1945. When this memorandum came up for discussion on Sept 19, the close connection of its subject matter to that of the control of movements of population then under discussion by the Coordinating Committee was recognized, so action was postponed until the next meeting of the Directorate. At the latter on September 29, the British and French members³⁹ argued for postponement of consideration in that to them the matter was part of broader question still being studied and planned for. The Soviet member⁴⁰ agreed that repatriation of German refugees from Austria and Czechoslovakia was part of a larger problem but that all movements would be arrested if complete plan were waited for, hence he suggested that a decision on certain phases of the problem be reached. The US member pressed for immediate action on the paper. Failure to reach an agreement led to consideration being deferred to the next meeting of the Directorate (Oct 9) at which time the US member stated he would ask for a vote on the proposal.

5. At a higher level, the Coordinating Committee considered on Oct 3 an American proposal which stated that the Czechoslovak Govt had agreed temporarily to suspend expulsions (see Dept’s No. 477, of Sept 14, 8 p.m., rptd to Praha as number 277 [227]), and recommended that the Polish Govt be requested to do the same during the winter. General Sokolovsky attacked the proposal on the ground that Poland should not be treated in a category separate from Czechoslovakia or Hungary. He stated that the Russians had had no assurance that the Czechoslovaks had agreed to stop expulsions and that most of the refugees now entering the Soviet zone of Germany are from Czechoslovakia. He refused, however, to agree to a request for suspension addressed to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Austria in spite of the Potsdam Agreement.

6. Excerpts from pertinent minutes and memoranda are being transmitted for your confidential information.⁴¹ You will be kept advised of developments.

Sent to Praha as 45; rptd to Dept as 727.

Murphy

33. The telegram under reference is from Praha, p. 1283, which was sent to the Department as No. 417 and repeated to USPolAd as No. 24.
34. Not printed; see footnote 24, p. 1282.
35. For a description of the discussion in the Political Directorate on September 28, see telegram 652, September 30, noon, from Berlin, p. 1281.
36. Prisoners of War and Displaced Persons Directorate of the Allied Control Authority.
37. Brig. Gen. Stanley Raymond Mickelsen.
38. Not found in Department files.
39. Col. R. N. Thicknesse and Maj. L. R. de Rosen, respectively.
40. Col. A. S. Yevseyev.
41. Minutes and memoranda from the Political Directorate, the Prisoner of War and Displaced Persons Directorate, and the Coordinating Committee were transmitted to the Embassy in Praha as enclosures to a letter from the United States Political Adviser for Germany, dated October 22, 1945, none printed. Copy of this letter and its enclosures not found in Department files.