Introduction

Coverage and Organization of the Volume

This volume presents documentation on the continuing efforts of the United States to implement the policies and decisions taken at the London Conference on Germany in 1948. During 1948 tripartite negotiations among the Western Military Governors and at various official levels had achieved substantial results, but by the end of the year the negotiations had become bogged down over minutiae. Similarly the Bonn Parliamentary Council had progressed to the point of drafting a Basic Law for the Western Zones of Germany but had been unable to finish its task. Documentation on these proceedings is presented in Foreign Relations, 1948, Volume II. Faced with this seeming impasse, representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France agreed to transfer the various talks to the governmental level, and they recommenced in London at the beginning of 1949, working from the reports or positions stated at the end of 1948. At the same time within the United States Government an increasing awareness arose that these negotiations were becoming too complex, that the documents being discussed were becoming more and more unworkable, and that a new simplified approach was needed to produce the basis for the relationship between the occupying powers and the West German Government which was taking shape at Bonn.

Chapter I of this volume presents papers dealing with this situation: on the one hand documenting the negotiations in London, and on the other indicating the lines of policy that culminated in the new approach by the Foreign Ministers in Washington, April 6–8. The editors have not attempted to document fully either series of negotiations but have presented only the essential outline of United States policy.

Concurrently the United States was closely involved with the deliberations of the Bonn Parliamentary Council and the establishment and delimitation of the rights and obligations of the Federal Republic of Germany. Chapter II presents materials on the role of the Western Military Governors in the drafting of the Basic Law and related documents which led to the West German elections in August and the formation of the first government of the Federal Republic in September. Individual parts of this chapter document the position of [Page VIII] the newly formed Adenauer Government with respect to problems affecting its status, including Berlin and participation in international organizations.

The formation of the Federal Republic of Germany did not pass unnoticed or unopposed by the Soviet Union which responded in two ways to the new situation. In Chapter III documentation is presented on formation of the “German Democratic Republic” and the United States attitude toward it, while Chapter V presents materials dealing with the continuing Berlin crisis and Soviet attempts to bargain for an end of the blockade in return for cessation of the negotiations leading to the establishment of the West German Government. The editors have not attempted to document in full all aspects of the Berlin blockade, but outlines of the United States position and policy are presented concerning the deliberations of the United Nations Technical Committee in Geneva and the JessupMalik conversations which resulted in the lifting of the blockade. Particular attention has been paid in Chapter V to the problem of access to Berlin.

At the end of 1948 negotiations on prohibited and restricted industries in Germany and on the status of plants examined by the Humphrey Committee had been suspended. Chapter IV presents materials relating to the completion of these talks in London and the signing of agreements on prohibited industries and the plants to be retained in Germany. The second part of the chapter presents further material on the problem of dismantling in the Western Zones of Germany, the attitude of the Federal Republic toward it, and the Petersberg Protocol of November which resolved the question.

One of the Soviet conditions for lifting the blockade of Berlin was the convocation of the Council of Foreign Ministers to discuss the problems of Germany and Austria. Documentation on the Sixth Session of the Council in Paris is presented in Chapter VI. The editors have attempted to present a concise detailed account of the aims and policies of the United States in preparing for the session and have printed at least a summary record of each meeting of the Foreign Ministers, while also documenting unofficial meetings and conferences among the ministers. A section devoted to the documents of the Council completes this chapter.

In 1948 the Deputies for Austria at the Council of Foreign Ministers had made some progress toward the drafting of an Austrian Treaty, but they had been balked by the intransigence of the Soviet Union in support of Yugoslav economic and territorial claims against Austria. [Page IX] Chapter VII presents documentation on the meetings of the Deputies for Austria in 1949, indicating the main lines of United States policy and the problems which prevented the signing of a treaty. Because of the voluminous records on this subject in the Department of State files, the editors have not been able to print the records of every meeting of the deputies and have presented only the briefest outline of their activities. In Chapter VIII is presented the outline of the United States policy as an occupying power in Austria. Particular attention has been focused on the problems of the Austrian national elections in October and on the creation of Austrian security forces. No comprehensive record has been attempted for the meetings of the various quadripartite control mechanisms; instead papers have been selected to indicate the important expressions of United States policy aimed at maintaining the political and economic stability and independence of Austria.

Unpublished Sources

The principal source of the documents presented in this volume is indexed Central Files of the Department of State. Such documents are indicated by means of a file number in the headnote. The provenance of papers obtained from other sources is shown in headnotes, as indicated on the following list:

a. inside the department of state

1.
CFM Files, Lot M–88—Consolidated master collection of the records of conferences of the Council of Foreign Ministers and ancillary bodies, other meetings of the Secretary of State with the Foreign Ministers of European powers, and materials on the Austrian and German peace settlements, covering the years 1943–1955, prepared by the Department of State Records Service Center.
2.
Executive Secretariat Files—Serial master file of National Security Council documents and correspondence and related Department of State memoranda maintained by the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State and subsequently preserved as Lot 63 D 351.
3.
London Embassy Files, Lot 58 F 47—Central files of the Embassy in the United Kingdom for 1949, arranged by the Foreign Service file system, and including collections of messages and papers accumulated by the Embassy during the course of tripartite negotiations in London on various aspects of the German question.
4.
McCloy Documents—Files of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany as subsequently preserved as a segment of the central files of the Embassy at Bonn (Lot 58 M 47); includes McCloy’s “Diary” indicating the High Commissioner’s activities for each day and those papers which were discussed at various meetings in which he participated.
5.
Policy Planning Staff Files, Lot 64 D 563—Master file of documents, drafts, records of meetings, memoranda and related correspondence for the years 1947–1953 of the Policy Planning Staff.
6.
Secretary’s Daily Meetings, Lot 58 D 609—Chronological collection of the records of the Secretary of State’s Daily Meetings with top Department of State officials for the years 1949–1952 as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.
7.
Records of Secretary’s Meetings (Secretary’s Memoranda), Lot 53 D 444—Comprehensive chronological collections of the Secretary of State’s memoranda, memoranda of conversations, and memoranda of conversations with the President for the years 1947–1953, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.

b. outside the department of state

1.
Department of Defense Files—Comprises in this volume the principal telegraphic and teletype exchanges between the United States Military Governor for Germany and the Department of the Army.
2.
George F. Kennan Papers—Personal papers of George F. Kennan, deposited at the Princeton University Library.

Published Sources

In addition to the Foreign Relations of the United States volumes and the Department of State Bulletin, the volumes listed below were found to be of particular value in the preparation of this volume. Other publications consulted by the editors are identified in editorial notes and footnotes.

Dean Acheson, Present at the Creation (New York: W. W. Norton Company, Inc., 1969).

Konrad Adenauer, Memoirs 1945–53. Translated by Beate Ruhm von Oppen (Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1966). Hereafter cited as “Adenauer, Memoirs”.

Berlin (West), Senate, Berlin: Quellen und Dokumente 1945–1951 (Berlin: Heinz Spitzing Verlag, 1964), 2 vols. Hereafter cited as “Berlin: Quellen und Dokumente”.

[Page XI]

Margaret Carlyle (ed.), Documents on International Affairs 1949–1950, issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (London: Oxford University Press, 1953). Hereafter cited as “Documents on International Affairs”.

Lucius D. Clay, Decision in Germany (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1950). Hereafter cited as “Clay, Decision in Germany”.

Dokumente zur Aussenpolitik der Regierung der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik Band I (Berlin: 1954). Hereafter cited as “Dokumente zur Aussenpolitik der DDR ”.

Otto Grotewohl, Im Kampf um die Einige Deutsche Demokratische Republik, Reden und Aufsaetze, Band I, 1945–1959 (Berlin: 1954). Hereafter cited as “Grotewohl, Im Kampf um DDR ”.

Frank Howley, Berlin Command (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1950). Hereafter cited as “Howley, Berlin Command”.

George F. Kennan, Memoirs 1925–1950 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1967). Hereafter cited as “Kennan, Memoirs”.

Guy A. Lee, The Establishment of the Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany (Frankfurt, HICOG: 1951). Hereafter cited as “The U.S. High Commissioner for Germany”.

Edward H. Litchfield and Associates, Governing Postwar Germany (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1953). Hereafter cited as “Litchfield, Governing Postwar Germany”.

Peter H. Merkl, The Origins of the West German Republic (New York: Oxford University Press, 1963). Hereafter cited as “Merkl, West German Republic”.

National-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands, Demokratie der Erprobten Leistungen (Berlin: 1951). Hereafter cited as “Demokratie der Erprobten Leistungen”.

Obrazovaniye germanskoi demokraticheskoi respubliki, dokumenty i materialy (Moscow: 1950). Hereafter cited as “Obrazovaniye GDR ”.

Office of Military Government for Germany (US), Civil Administration Division, Documents on the Creation of the German Federal Constitution, Frankfurt, 1 September 1950. Hereafter cited as “Documents on the German Federal Constitution”.

Office of the United States High Commissioner for Germany, Documents on German Unity, Vol. I (Frankfurt: 1951). Hereafter cited as “Documents on Germany Unity”.

Wilhelm Pieck, Reden und Aufsaetze, Auswahl aus den Jahren 1908–1950, Band II (Berlin: 1950). Hereafter cited as “Pieck, Reden und Aufsaetze”.

Elmer Plischke, Berlin: Development of its Government and Administration (Bonn, HICOG: 1952). Hereafter cited as “Plischke, Berlin”.

Elmer Plischke, History of the Allied High Commission for Germany (Frankfurt, HICOG: 1950). Hereafter cited as “Plischke, High Commission”.

Beate Ruhm von Oppen (ed.), Documents on Germany Under Occupation 1945–1954, issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (London: Oxford University Press, 1955). Hereafter cited as “Ruhm von Oppen, Documents on Germany”.

Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, Dokumente der Sozialistischen Einheitspartei Deutschlands, Band II, 1948–1950 (Berlin: 1951). Hereafter cited as “Dokumente der SED ”.

[Page XII]

Walter Ulbricht, Zur Geschichte der Deutschen Arbeiterbewegung, aus Reden and Aufsaetzen, Band III, 1946–1950 (Berlin: 1953). Hereafter cited as “Ulbricht, Geschichte Arbeiterbewegung”.

United States, Department of State, Germany 1947–1949: The Story in Documents (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950). Hereafter cited as “Germany 1947–1949”.