Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Berlin Crisis, 1958–1959, Volume VIII

489. Telegram From the Delegation to the Foreign Ministers Meeting to the Department of State⁰

Geneva, July 28, 1959, 9 p.m.

Secto 409. Paris pass USRO. Following is unofficial translation of text Soviet proposal handed Merchant by Soldatov today:

Begin text.

The Conference of the Foreign Ministers in Geneva has considered the Berlin question in the desire to find a mutually satisfactory solution. The participants in the conference have agreed to implement, with the aim to change the existing situation in West Berlin, measures which will be of an interim nature—for a year and a half period and will comprise the following:

Reduction of Armed Forces

The Governments of the United Kingdom, the USA and France after the coming into force of the present agreement will reduce the strength of their garrisons in West Berlin and correspondingly their armaments to token contingents so that the total strength of these garrisons should not exceed 3,000 to 4,000 men.

Non-Location of Atomic and Rocket Weapons

The Governments of the United Kingdom, the USA and France shall not locate in West Berlin nuclear weapons or rocket installations of any kind.

Termination of Subversive Activities

The Governments of the United Kingdom, the USA and France will take measures not to allow the use of the territory of West Berlin for interference in the internal affairs of other states and for all kinds of subversive activities directed against the USSR, the GDR and other socialist states as well as for hostile propaganda against them.

(Also included is a reference to the relevant declaration of the GDR Government dealing with noninterference in the internal affairs of West Berlin and respect for the agreement on the interim status of West Berlin.)

Supervisory Committee

To supervise the fulfillment of the obligations stemming from the present agreement regarding agreed measures in West Berlin, and to take, in case of necessity, measures assuring the implementation of the arrangement arrived at, a committee composed of representatives of the United Kingdom, the USSR, the USA and France will be set up within a month of the date the agreement comes into force.

Access

The Governments of the United Kingdom, the USA and France take cognizance of the declaration of the Government of the USSR that for the duration of the present agreement the communications of West Berlin with the outside world will be preserved in their present shape.

Negotiations Between the Two German States

The Four Powers—the United Kingdom, the USSR, the USA and France have pronounced themselves in favour of setting up an all-German committee composed of the representatives of the two parts of Germany, or holding negotiations between the two German states in some other form acceptable to them to consider questions related to the preparation and conclusion of a peace treaty with Germany which would also ensure a radical solution of the question of West Berlin, and to consider and work out concrete measures on the unification of Germany and the development of contacts.

It is understood that in the course of these negotiations all decisions will be taken by agreement between the sides:

If after the expiration of the year and a half period no agreement will have been reached on the questions under consideration within the all-German committee or otherwise, then the states represented at the Geneva conference will again hold negotiations on the question of West Berlin. End text.

Herter

0. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–GE/7–2859. Secret; Priority. Repeated to Brussels, Ottawa, Copenhagen, Paris, Bonn, Athens, Reykjavik, Rome, Luxembourg, The Hague, Oslo, Lisbon, Ankara, London, Moscow, Berlin, and USUN.