Introduction

This volume presents documentation on the efforts of the United States to bring about peace settlements for Germany and Austria and to deal with the problems of occupation and control in those countries pending achievements of such settlements. The search for the peace settlements was carried on by the Great Powers—the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and France—chiefly through the mechanism of the Council of Foreign Ministers. During 1947, the Council of Foreign Ministers held 60 formal meetings during its Fourth Session in Moscow, March 10–April 24 and its Fifth Session in London, November 25–December 15. In addition, the Deputies for Germany of the Council of Foreign Ministers held sixty-one meetings in London during January and February and again in November, while the Deputies for Austria held sixty-three meetings in London in January and February and in Moscow during the Council’s Fourth Session. The Council also established an Austrian Treaty Commission which held eighty-five meetings in Vienna from May through October.

Chapters I through IV of this volume present papers relating to the convening and proceedings of the Council of Foreign Ministers and its subordinate agencies. The editors have not regarded as appropriate or necessary the printing here of the complete records of Council meetings and formal documents. Although the meetings of the Council were held in secret, the world press was kept fully apprised of the substance of the transactions. The principal policy statements made at Council meetings were promptly released to the press and became a part of the public record. Editorial notes and annotations indicate many of these materials in the more readily accessible printed sources. While avoiding the re-publication here of statements and documents whose text or substance is already generally known or available, every effort has been made to provide an essential outline of the transactions of Council meetings, to delineate the main thrust of American policies and attitudes, and to present a comprehensive record of the Secretary of State while attending the sessions of the Council. Thus, an American Delegation report has been included covering every meeting of the Council. The most authoritative and substantive record of each meeting which the Secretary of State had with foreign representatives outside the formal Council meetings has also been included.

The formal four-power proceedings of the Moscow and London Sessions of the Council of Foreign Ministers were conducted in accordance [Page VIII] with agreed agendas. The Secretary of State and his principal advisers also used the occasion of the Council sessions to discuss non-agenda issues with British, French, and Soviet officials. These discussions often extended beyond consideration of German and Austrian questions. Moreover, a wide range of policy problems were referred to the Secretary by the Department of State for decision while he was in attendance at Council meetings. The editors have restricted the documentation presented here to materials directly related to issues on the Council’s agenda and to German and Austrian questions closely related to the prospective peace settlements. Documentation on other topics discussed or considered by the Secretary of State and the United States Delegation during sessions of the Council of Foreign Ministers is included in appropriate compilations in other volumes of Foreign Relations for the year 1947.

Individual reports have not been included in this volume for each of the 209 meetings of the Deputies for Germany, the Deputies for Austria, and the Austrian Treaty Commission. In view of the publicity given to these meetings at the time they were held and in order to conserve space, only formal Deputy and Commission documents of particular significance and reports of meetings of exceptional interest are presented here. The preponderant share of the materials on the Deputies and the Austrian Commission consists of correspondence between the Department of State and the American delegations to these bodies.

Although the Council of Foreign Ministers was almost exclusively concerned with the German and Austrian peace settlements during 1947, it did also continue to give attention to the details of the Italian peace settlement. The Deputies for the Former Italian Colonies met in London in October and November, the Four Power Italian Naval Commission concluded its work at the beginning of 1947, and special bodies were involved in investigating the financial situation and the delimiting of the boundaries of the proposed Free Territory of Trieste. Documents on these topics are included in volume III under the heading “Italy”.

Chapters V and VI of this volume contain papers on the problems of the occupation and control of Germany and Austria. The editors have not attempted to document the full range of issues that arose in the course of the quadripartite occupation of these two countries. Nor has it appeared useful to present records of all of the many-score meetings of the principal Allied control bodies—the Allied Control Commission and Coordinating Committee in Germany and the Allied Council and Executive Committee in Austria. The editors have concentrated instead upon presenting documentation, including where [Page IX] necessary reports on or documents from the principal Allied governing bodies, on the major issues and problems that confronted the United States in the discharge of its occupational responsibilities. 1947 was a year of steady deterioration in the quadripartite control system in Germany, and the most pressing issue facing the United States was the development of economic cooperation and coordination among the American, British, and French zones of occupation. In Germany as well as in Austria, the problems of economic rehabilitation and relief were also of outstanding gravity. For the sake of convenience, the materials in these chapters are grouped topically. Wherever possible, the editors have tried to avoid reprinting those documents, agreements, or statements which have already been included in the most readily available documentaries on German and Austrian occupation or in official governmental publications.

The principal collection of documents in the Department of State dealing with the Council of Foreign Ministers is the special 249-box consolidated lot file, Lot M–88. Much of the material in this lot file is not repeated in the central files of the Department, although the latter still remain paramount on most other aspects of policy towards Germany and Austria. Of outstanding importance in compiling the documentary record of occupation policy in Germany and Austria are the files of the Political Adviser for Germany, which are included in the post files of the Frankfurt Consulate, and the files of the United States Legation at Vienna.

For the sake of simplifying the editorial apparatus in this volume, the editors have dispensed with the usual practice of identifying persons in footnotes to individual documents. Instead, a comprehensive list of persons mentioned in this volume is included together with a list of abbreviations.

For previous documentation on the work of the Council of Foreign Ministers, the reader should consult Foreign Relations, 1946, volume II. For earlier documentation on the occupation and control of Germany and Austria, see ibid., 1946 volume V.