I am attaching for your approval a memorandum dealing with American
policy for the treatment of Germany. It is my belief, and that of the
others who attended yesterday’s meeting with you, that it represents
your views as brought out in our conversation. This memorandum was
prepared jointly and has the approval of the State, Treasury and War
Departments.
[Annex]
Memorandum Regarding American Policy for the
Treatment of Germamy9
[Washington,] March 23,
1945.
The following is a summary of U.S. policy relating to Germany in the
initial post-defeat period. As such it will be introduced into the
European Advisory Commission, and will be used as the basis for
directives to be issued to the U.S. Commanding General in
Germany.
The authority of the Control Council to formulate policy with respect
to matters affecting Germany as a whole shall be paramount, and its
agreed policies shall be carried out in each zone by the zone
commander. In the absence of such agreed policies, and in matters
exclusively affecting his own zone, the zone commander will exercise
his authority in accordance with directives received from his own
government.
The administration of affairs in Germany should be directed toward
the decentralization of the political structure and the development
of local responsibility. The German economy shall also be
decentralized, except that to the minimum extent required for
carrying out the purposes set forth herein, the Control Council may
permit or establish central control of (a)
essential national public services such as railroads, communications
and power; (b) finance and foreign affairs,
and (c) production and distribution of
essential commodities. There shall be equitable distribution of such
commodities between the several zones.
Germany’s ruthless warfare and fanatical Nazi resistance have
destroyed German economy and made chaos and suffering inevitable.
The Germans cannot escape responsibility for what they have brought
upon themselves.
[Page 472]
Controls may be imposed upon the German economy only as may be
necessary (a) to carry out programs of
industrial disarmament and demilitarization, reparations, and of
relief for liberated areas as prescribed by appropriate higher
authority and (b) to assure the production
and maintenance of goods and services required to meet the needs of
the occupying forces and displaced persons in Germany, and essential
to prevent starvation or such disease or civil unrest as would
endanger the occupying forces. No action shall be taken, in
execution of the reparations program or otherwise, which would tend
to support basic living standards in Germany on a higher level than
that existing in any one of the neighboring United Nations. All
economic and financial international transactions, including exports
and imports, shall be controlled with the aim of preventing Germany
from developing a war potential and of achieving the other
objectives named herein. The first charge on all approved exports
for reparations or otherwise shall be a sum necessary to pay for
imports. No extension of credit to Germany or Germans by any foreign
person or Government shall be permitted, except that the Control
Council may in special emergencies grant such permission. Recurrent
reparations should not, by their form or amount, require the
rehabilitation or development of German heavy industry and should
not foster the dependence of other countries upon the German
economy.
In the imposition and maintenance of economic controls, German
authorities will to the fullest extent practicable be ordered to
proclaim and assume administration of such controls. Thus it should
be brought home to the German people that the responsibility for the
administration of such controls and for any breakdowns in those
controls, will rest with themselves and their own authorities.
The Nazi party and its affiliated and supervised organizations and
all Nazi public institutions shall be dissolved and their revival
prevented. Nazi and militaristic activity or propaganda in any form
shall be prevented.
There shall be established a coordinated system of control over
German education designed completely to eliminate Nazi and
militarist doctrines and to make possible the development of
democratic ideas.
Nazi laws which provide the basis of the Hitler regime or which
establish discriminations on grounds of race, creed or political
opinion, shall be abolished.
All members of the Nazi party who have been more than nominal
participants in its activities, and all other persons hostile to
Allied purposes will be removed from public office and from
positions of responsibility in private enterprise.
War criminals and those who have participated in planning or carrying
out Nazi enterprises involving or resulting in atrocities or
[Page 473]
war crimes, shall be
arrested, brought to trial and punished. Nazi leaders and
influential Nazi supporters and any other persons dangerous to the
occupation or its objectives, shall be arrested and interned.
A suitable program for the restitution of property looted by Germans
shall be carried out promptly.
The German armed forces, including the General Staff, and all
para-military organizations, shall be promptly demobilized and
disbanded in such a manner as permanently to prevent their revival
or reorganization.
The German war potential shall be destroyed. As part of the program
to attain this objective, all implements of war and all specialized
facilities for the production of armaments shall be seized or
destroyed. The maintenance and production of all aircraft and
implements of war shall be prevented.
Joseph C. Grew
J. H. Hilldring
H. Freeman Matthews
John J. McCloy
Frank Coe
Harry D. White
William L. Clayton
Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
