Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, General, Volume I

740.00119 European Advisory Commission/57: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State

London, January 20, 1944—5 p.m.
[Received 8 p.m.]

530. Comea⁸⁴14. The Department will recall that in the document relating to the treatment of Germany which was produced at the Moscow Conference by our Delegation, reference was made to the question of decentralization, or even dismemberment, of Germany. The British record of the Conference indicates that this question was discussed by the three Foreign Ministers, but that no definite conclusions were reached and that this question, like the other matters treated in the above-mentioned paper, was left for further study in the Commission.

The British records also indicate that this question again came under discussion at the Tehran Conference,⁸⁵ where the suggestion was made that either a special Three-Power Committee be established to study this question, or that it be submitted to a sub-committee of the European Advisory Commission, which would presumably work out a joint study and set of recommendations for the consideration of the three Governments.

Strang rang me up yesterday to say that his Government intended to ask Washington and Moscow when and how they desired to undertake further study and discussion of this subject, which has a definite bearing on the question of surrender terms. I have asked that, instead of approaching simultaneously Washington and Moscow, the British first consult the Department in Washington. Both Strang and Eden agreed to this. The Russian position is an unknown quantity to me.

Winant

84. Series designation for telegrams from London dealing with the work of the European Advisory Commission.
85. President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and Premier Stalin met in conference at Tehran, November 27–December 1, 1943. For the record of the discussions regarding the partition of Germany, see Foreign Relations, The Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943, pp. 602–603. For additional documentation regarding this subject, see ibid., index, p. 907, entry on “Germany: Partition of, postwar”.