The Pittsburgh Press (August 7, 1946)
Edson: Germany worst stumbling-block to Potsdam pact
By Peter Edson
WASHINGTON – The biggest stumbling-block to the Big Four foreign minister in their efforts to carry out the Potsdam agreement of a year ago has been Germany itself.
The general purposes of the agreement were to wipe out Nazism, punish the guilty war-criminals, democratize Germany during the period of military occupation, and, finally, make sure that the Germans would be so completely disarmed they never again could threaten the peace of the world.
To carry out these provisions, Germany was divided into four zones of occupation – Russian in the east, U.S. in the south, French in the west, and British in the north. The Potsdam declaration provided that, “So far as practicable, there shall be uniformity of treatment of the German population throughout Germany.”
This there admittedly has not been.
The control machinery for the occupation of Germany under the Potsdam agreement has been set up as planned, and it has functioned. At the top is the Control Council, made up of the commanding generals of the four zones.
The Control Council has passed a considerable number of laws and orders applicable to all zones. Also, it has laid the basis for technical discussions on many proposals for the uniform treatment of Germany.
Frequently the experts get the ground worked out in subordinate committees, only to have final agreement deferred by the emergence of political differences in the Control Council proper or at higher levels in London, Moscow, Paris or Washington.
Policies differ
Within each zone there are differences in administration of the laws and orders common to all of Germany. There are differences in the degree of de-Nazification, the degree of self-government, the attitude towards German political parties.
For instance, U.S. policy has been to weed out Nazis and bar them from public office. The Russians have barred the top ones, but they try to convert the little fellows and make them into good Communists.
The U.S. has encouraged the development of a number of different political parties with divergent views. The Russians have worked towards unification of the workers’ parties in their zone through a single Socialist Unity party embracing the Social Democrats and the Communists.
On disarmament, charges have been hurled thick and fast across the zonal boundaries. The United States proposed a disarmament inspection committee, but when the Russians objected to inclusion of industrial plants in the inspection the idea was dropped. Now there are reports that the Russians are manufacturing munitions for the Red Army in the ex-German war-plants in the Russian zone.
All Nazi discriminatory laws have been abolished in all four zones.
Trials of the leading war-criminals are about concluded. There probably will beno more international trials like that in Nuernberg. Trials of the lesser criminals will be conducted by each country in its own zone.
Education
Reorganizing the German educational system so as to weed out Nazi and militarist doctrines has been difficult. Schools of all levels are going, but it has been difficult to find competent anti-Nazi teachers.
The German judicial system has been reorganized by a Control Council law applicable to all four zones. The basis of the new German court system is the old German constitution of 1877.
Local self-government is functioning in the U.S. and British zones, but it’s hard to say what the situation is in the Russian zone.
Three elections have been held in the U.S. zone, and local governments have been organized from the bottom up to the Laender, or state, level. Other zones have not made this rapid advance.
In the Soviet zone, there has been only one election, in Saxony. That was a referendum on whether or not industry should be nationalized, and the alternatives offered were so worded that only one answer was possible. The Russian zone, however, has scheduled local elections in the towns and cities for this Fall.
The formation of trade unions has been encouraged, and religious freedom has been restored. Civil liberties have been restored, too, except that Germans are not permitted to criticize the Allies.
The Potsdam agreement stated: “For the time being no central German government shall be established.” This has been a great “out” for the Russians in opposing centralization.
The Potsdam agreement went on to declare that there should be central administrative departments on finance, transport, communications and trade. This has met with opposition from the French, who want to hold off centralization until the western boundaries of Germany have been set.
Slowness in centralizing Germany has been one of the great failures under the Potsdam agreement. The economic consequences of this failure will be reviewed in the next article of this series.