Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, Council of Foreign Ministers; Germany and Austria, Volume II

CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 60

Provisional Record of Decisions of the Council of Foreign Ministers, Forty-Second Meeting, Moscow, Aviation Industry House, April 23, 1947, 5:30 p.m.

Moscow, April 23, 1947, 5:30 p.m.

secret
CFM(47) (M) 42nd Meeting

	Present
	France
	M. Bidault (Chairman)
	General Catroux
	M. Couve de Murville
	M. Alphand
	M. de St-Hardouin
	M. Paris
U.S.A.		U.K.
Mr. Marshall		Mr. Bevin
Mr. Smith		Sir Maurice Peterson
Mr. Cohen		Sir William Strang
Mr. Dulles		Lord Hood
General Clark		General Winterton
Mr. Bohlen		Sir E. Hall-Patch
	U.S.S.R.
	M. Molotov
	M. Vyshinski
	M. Smirnov
	Marshal Sokolovsky
	General Kurasov
	M. Kiselev

I. Report of the Deputies for Germany Concerning Agreements and Disagreements Arrived at in Discussions During the Present Session on Items 1 and 2 of the Agenda and Questions of Procedure (CFM/47/M/148)²²

The Council heard the report of the Acting Chairman of the Deputies. During the course of the discussion the following modifications were inserted into the text of the written report (CFM/47/M/148):

Part I. Introduction, third Sub-paragraph

The U. K. Delegation withdrew its reservation.

Part II. Section I, paragraph B (Unagreed points)

The U.S. Delegation withdrew its reservation and adopted the proposals of the Soviet Delegation.

Part II. Section II, paragraph B (Unagreed points)

The U.S. Delegation withdrew its reservation and adopted the proposal of the Soviet Delegation.

Part III. Section E (Powers of the Laender Governments)

The U.S. Delegation withdrew its reservation.

Part V. Sub-paragraph 3[1].

The U.K. Delegation withdrew its first reservation.

II. Treaty for the Disarmament and Demilitarization of Germany (CFM/47/P/21)²³ and (CFM/47/M/129)²⁴

There was an exchange of views (U.S.A.–CFM/47/M/151),²⁵ during the course of which the Soviet Delegation referred to its proposal (CFM/47/M/152).²⁶

III. The Return of German Prisoners of War to Germany

It was agreed to accept the proposal of the Soviet Delegation (CFM/47/M/153)²⁷ drafted in accordance with a proposal of the British Delegation.

IV. Treaty for the Re-Establishment of an Independent and Democratic Austria

It was agreed to instruct the Deputies for Austria to consider the remaining disagreements in the Treaty with Austria, with the exception of Articles 5, 34, 35, 42 and 45, and to submit a report to the Council on April 24, 1947.

V. Agenda for the Next Meeting

It was agreed:

1) to consider the report of the Deputies for Austria

2) to discuss the question of the limitation of occupation forces in Germany

3) to discuss the time and place of the next session of the Council.

22. Post, p. 461.
23. The garbled citation here is to the United States draft treaty on the disarmament and demilitarization of Germany, circulated at the Paris Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers as document CFM(46) 21, April 30, 1946, Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. ii, p. 190.
24. The Soviet draft treaty on the demilitarization of Germany, circulated to the Council on April 14, 1947; for the text, see Documents on International Affairs, 1947–1948, pp. 445–449, or Molotov, Problems of Foreign Policy, pp. 601–608.
25. Statement by Secretary Marshall regarding the draft treaty on the disarmament and demilitarization of Germany; for the text, see Germany 1947–1949, pp. 101–102, or Department of State Bulletin, May 4, 1947, p. 793.
26. The Soviet proposal, not printed, called for the establishment of a Special Committee which would consider the United States draft treaty together with the corrections and addenda suggested by other Delegations. The Special Committee would report to the Council at its next session.

27. CFM(47) (M)153, April 23, 1947, read as follows:

    • “1. German prisoners of war located in the territory of the Allied Powers and in all other territories will be returned to Germany by December 31, 1948.
    • “2. The repatriation of German prisoners of war will be carried out in accordance with a plan which will be worked out by the Control Council not later than July 1st of this year.”