Editorial Note

At their meeting in London, May 11–13, the Foreign Ministers of the United States, United Kingdom, and France adopted a proposal to protest to the Soviet Union concerning the remilitarization of the Eastern Zone. (MIN/TRI/P/11, not printed) The drafting of the parallel notes was done in Moscow, and the United States note, based on the text transmitted in telegram 1318, March 23, supra, together with similar British and French notes, was delivered to the Soviet Foreign Office on May 23. On the same day the Department of State released to the press additional information on the East German paramilitary police which was not included in the note. For the text of the note and the additional information, see Department of State Bulletin, June 5, 1950, pages 918–920. The text of the United States note and an extract from the British note are printed in Beate Ruhm von Oppen (ed.), Documents on Germany Under Occupation, 1945–1954 (London, Oxford University Press, 1955), pages 493–495. Documentation relating to the drafting and delivery of the note is in Department of State files 396.1–LO, 862B.501, and 862B.511.

On October 19, the Soviet Government delivered its reply to this note to the Western Embassies in Moscow. It repudiated the Allied charges and accused the Western powers of arming the Federal police, training them in special cadre schools which left “no doubt that these formations are in no way designed for discharging usual police functions.” The note concluded that the Soviet Union would not reconcile itself with such measures “aimed at reviving the German Regular Army in Western Germany,” For the full text of the Soviet note, see ibid., pages 520–521; for the Russian text of the note as published in Izvestiia on October 20, see Vneshniaia politika Sovetskogo Soiuza, dokumenty i materialy. 1950 god (Moscow, Gospolitizdat, 1953), pages 221–223.