Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1945, European Advisory Commission, Austria, Germany, Volume III

862.00/1–1846

The United States Political Adviser for Germany (Murphy) to the Secretary of State

No. 1698

Berlin, January 18, 1946.
[Received February 6.]

Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatches No. 1184 of October 26 and No. 1374 of November 22⁹ which concern the first and second meetings of the Laenderrat of the United States zone of occupation and to enclose herewith a series of papers¹⁰ relating to the third meeting of this body in Stuttgart on December 4 and to subsequent decisions of Military Government growing out of that meeting.

The opening session of the December meeting was devoted to a brief address by General Joseph T. McNarney and to a statement by Lieutenant General Lucius D. Clay in which the Deputy Military Governor set forth his policies with respect to a number of problems of concern to the Ministers-president. Of particular interest to his German auditors was his announcement of the import of food from the United States to the extent necessary to provide an average ration of 1550 calories for the United States zone of occupation. I attach as Enclosure No. 1 the texts of the speeches of Generals McNarney and Clay.

The working sessions of the Laenderrat were attended only by the Ministers-president, several of their ministerial colleagues and a very small number of representatives of Military Government. I attach as Enclosure No. 2 a report which, in its first part, contains a tentative summary of the discussions. Enclosure No. 3, in turn, presents a translation of the official German texts of all the proposals adopted at the meeting. This document likewise indicates the action taken by Military Government up to December 17, 1945, in response to these proposals.

Three points of possible interest to the Department arose in the discussion of the report of the Food Committee. (1) The Minister President of Greater Hesse, Dr. Geiler, proposed the establishment of a central executive office of food and agriculture for the three Laender of the United States zone in order more effectively to solve the paramount problem of the day in Germany. This suggestion was vigorously combatted by Dr. Hoegner, Minister-president of Bavaria, whose strong decentralist convictions as a matter of general principle were in complete harmony with his resolution that Bavaria would not be made, as he expressed it, the milch cow of the other Laender. (2) Permission was requested for the German authorities of the United States zone to negotiate for the purchase of live stock with the German authorities of the British zone and with Austria. In response to this request General Clay has subsequently informed the Ministers-president that import requirements for the zone must be addressed to the several Land detachments. This expression of the manifest need for the restoration of Germany’s economic unity, however, has led the Deputy Military Governor to a consideration of how trade over the zone boundaries can be arranged before the present difficulties with respect to a central German administration can be overcome. It is his hope that this problem of inter-zone trade can be discussed with the British Military Government administration in the near future. (3) Request was likewise made to withdraw requisition rights from UNRRA except in cases of emergency and to curtail the privilege of “foreigners” (displaced persons) by giving them the same rations as the Germans receive and by halting the requisitioning of houses. The argument supporting the request states, “If the foreigners are not willing to depart with transportation, they should be in the same position as the Germans concerning their obligation for working.” General Clay in a telegram dated January 5, 1946, rejected these representations.

Discussion of the report of the Evacuation Committee again gave rise to complaints by the Ministers-president about the unwanted strangers in their midst and to the formally expressed desire that the departure of these foreigners be speeded. The Ministers-president likewise asked for the expeditious return of displaced Germans to their homes in other zones without reference to the head-for-head policy of the Allied Control Authority. And, finally, they requested a revision of the Potsdam decisions with reference to the transfer of Germans from the East.¹¹ The supporting argument for this last request refers to the food situation and “to health, peace, security and order in Germany.” General Clay, in reply to this series of requests, has pointed out the difficulties due to weather and transport which impede our efforts to remove the displaced persons as rapidly as possible but he has at the same time given a negative answer to the specific proposals.

In giving attention to questions of political interest the Ministers-president submitted a proposal whereby prisoners of war now engaged in reconstruction work would be exchanged for former active Nazis. General Clay received this suggestion with interest but his subsequent study has led him to the conclusion that there exists no legal basis for such action.

With regard to the projected Gemeinde elections the three Ministers-president were unanimous in their desire, engendered by the technical problem of properly qualifying voters, to postpone this step until springtime. As the Department is aware, however, no change of plans has resulted from the Laenderrat’s plea. An additional proposal would have restricted candidacy for office to the persons nominated by licensed political parties but that recommendation has likewise been rejected in favor of allowing lists without formal party sponsorship to contest for office. General Clay, however, has authorized the Land governments to establish a percentage requirement for election high enough to prevent the reappearance on the German political scene of a series of splinter parties. There are available as yet no reports as to how this problem of minor parties will be resolved within the generally accepted framework of proportional representation.

Of the other topics of discussion reflected in the previously cited enclosures I shall refer only to a consideration by the Ministers-president of the problem of denazification. As the minutes indicate, Dr. Geiler of Greater Hesse proposed that the three Land governments prepare a uniform denazification law and submit it to the appropriate Military Government authorities for approval. Dr. Hoegner of Bavaria replied that his government had already submitted a draft law to the Land Detachment of Bavaria and he invited his colleagues of the Council to endorse the Bavarian program. After an extended debate Dr. Hoegner agreed to suspend independent action for 10 days to allow the ministers of justice of the three Laender to work out a common proposal. I have received a copy of this latter document only in the past few days and shall make the further development of this question the subject of a separate despatch.

In the interest of affording the Department a critical assessment of the Laenderrat during the first two months of its existence I append as Enclosure No. 4 a copy of a report prepared on December 10 by Dr. James K. Pollock who is head of the Regional Government Coordinating Office, the agency of Military Government responsible for advising and supervising the Laenderrat. Dr. Pollock here states his conviction that the idea underlying the creation of this instrumentality of government has been proven sound and that the organization has operated very satisfactorily considering the difficulties under which it has had to function. The weaknesses and confusions which he observed in the meeting of December 4 are being overcome,¹² in his judgment, and he looks forward with optimism to the subsequent development of the Laenderrat not only as a mechanism for the better administration of the United States zone but also as a possible means of resolving problems which extend beyond the boundaries of the zone.¹³

I attach as Enclosure No. 5 a directive of December 20, 1945,¹⁴ in which the Deputy Military Governor has specified the character and functions of the Laenderrat and the Regional Government Coordinating Office in the light of experience accumulated up to that time.

As a contribution to the Department’s biographical files, I transmit as Enclosure No. 6 a brief note on the personal history of Eric Rossman who was elected Secretary-General of the Laenderrat at the December meeting.

Respectfully,

Robert Murphy

9. Neither printed.
10. None printed here.
11. See section XIII of the Report on the Tripartite Conference of Berlin, printed in Conference of Berlin (Potsdam), vol. ii, p. 1511. For related documentation, see Foreign Relations, 1945, vol. ii, pp. 1227 ff.
12. In his analysis, Mr. Pollock noted particularly that assignments had been given to the Länderrat faster than it was able to handle them, for which he offered the following reasons. “First, the German officials both in the Council itself and in its committees had to get acquainted with each other, and get accustomed to free discussion. Second, they were not sure for a time just what their authority was going to be. Third, the delay in securing a Secretary General acceptable to Military Government necessitated placing the secretarial work in temporary hands. Fourth, the absence of adequate office space and secretarial help delayed the work of the secretariat.”
13. Mr. Pollock made the suggestion that the U.S. zone Länderrat meet with German officials of administrative subdivisions in the British zone and also with their counterparts in the French and Russian zones, thus ultimately presenting the four occupying powers with “a national council of states with which they could deal until an elected constitutional assembly existed.”
14. Text in Pollock and Meisel, Germany Under Occupation, p. 128.