Potsdam Agreement - Protocol

Protocol

In the Potsdam Agreement (Berlin Conference) the Allies (UK, USSR, USA) agree:

1. Establishment of a Council of Foreign Ministers.

   See the London Conference of Foreign Ministers and the Moscow Conference which took place later in 1945.

2. The principles to govern the treatment of Germany in the initial control period.

   See European Advisory Commission and Allied Control Council

   • A. Political principles.

   Democratization. Treatment of Germany as a single unit. Disarmament and Demilitarization. Elimination of all Nazi influence.

   • B. Economic principles.

   Reduction or destruction of all civilian heavy-industry with war-potential, such as shipbuilding, machine production and chemical factories. Restructuring of German economy towards agriculture and light-industry.

3. Reparations from Germany.

   This section covered reparation claims of the USSR from the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. The section also agreed that 10% of the industrial capacity of the western zones unnecessary for the German peace economy should be transferred to the Soviet Union within two years

4. Disposal of the German Navy and merchant marine.

   All but thirty submarines to be sunk and the rest of the German Navy was to be divided equally between the three powers.

   The German merchant marine was to be divided equally between the three powers, and they would distribute some of those ships to the other Allies. But until the end of the war with the Empire of Japan all the ships would remain under the authority of the Combined Shipping Adjustment Board and the United Maritime Authority.

5. City of Königsberg and the adjacent area (then East Prussia, now Kaliningrad Oblast).

   The United States and Britain declared that they would support the transfer of Königsberg and the adjacent area to the Soviet Union at the peace conference.

6. War criminals

   This was a short paragraph and covered the creation of the London Charter and the subsequent Nuremberg Trials:

   The Three Governments have taken note of the discussions which have been proceeding in recent weeks in London between British, United States, Soviet and French representatives with a view to reaching agreement on the methods of trial of those major war criminals whose crimes under the Moscow Declaration of October, 1943 have no particular geographical localization. The Three Governments reaffirm their intention to bring these criminals to swift and sure justice. They hope that the negotiations in London will result in speedy agreement being reached for this purpose, and they regard it as a matter of great importance that the trial of these major criminals should begin at the earliest possible date. The first list of defendants will be published before 1st September.

7. Austria:

   The government of Austria was to be decided after British and American forces entered Vienna, and that Austria should not pay any reparations.

8. Poland

   There should be a Provisional Government of National Unity recognised by all three powers, and that those Poles who were serving in British Army formations should be free to return to Poland. The provisional western border should be the Oder-Neisse line, parts of East Prussia and former Free City of Danzig should be under Polish administration, but that the final delimitation of the western frontier of Poland should await the peace settlement, which had to await the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany in 1990.

9. Conclusion on peace treaties and admission to the United Nations organization.

   See Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers which took place later in 1945.

   It was noted that Italy had fought on the side of the Allies and was making good progress towards establishment of a democratic government and institutions and that after the peace treaty the three Allies would support an application from a democratic Italian government for membership of the United Nations. Further

   he three Governments have also charged the Council of Foreign Ministers with the task of preparing peace treaties for Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary and Romania. The conclusion of Peace Treaties with recognized democratic governments in these States will also enable the three Governments to support applications from them for membership of the United Nations. The three Governments agree to examine each separately in the near future in the light of the conditions then prevailing, the establishment of diplomatic relations with Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary to the extent possible prior to the conclusion of peace treaties with those countries.

   The details were discussed at later that year at the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers and the treaties were signed in 1947 at the Paris Peace Conference

   By that time the governments of Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary were Communist.

10. Territorial Trusteeship

    Italian former colonies would be decided in connection with the preparation of a peace treaty for Italy. Like most of the other former European Axis powers the Italian peace treaty was signed at the 1947 Paris Peace Conference.

11. Revised Allied Control Commission procedure in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary

    Now that hostilities in Europe were at an end the Western Allies should have a greater input into the Control Commissions of Central and Eastern Europe, the Annex to this agreement included detailed changes to the workings of the Hungarian Control Commission.

12. Orderly transfer of German Populations

    Main article Expulsion of Germans after World War II

    The Three Governments, having considered the question in all its aspects, recognize that the transfer to Germany of German populations, or elements thereof, remaining in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, will have to be undertaken. They agree that any transfers that take place should be effected in an orderly and humane manner.

    "German populations, or elements thereof, remaining in Poland" refers to Germans living within the 1937 boundaries of Poland up to the Curzon line going East. In theory, that German ethnic population could have been expelled to the Polish temporarily administered territories of Silesia, Farther Pomerania, East Prussia and eastern Brandenburg.

    Because the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany were under great strain, the Czechoslovak government, the Polish provisional government and the control council in Hungary were asked to submit an estimate of the time and rate at which further transfers could be carried out having regard to the present situation in Germany and suspend further expulsions until these estimates were integrated into plans for an equitable distribution of these "removed" Germans among the several zones of occupation.

13. Oil equipment in Romania
14. Iran

    Allied troops were to withdraw immediately from Tehran and that further stages of the withdrawal of troops from Iran should be considered at the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers to be held in London in September, 1945.

15. The international zone of Tangier.

    The city of Tangier and the area around it should remain international and discussed further.

16. The Black sea straits.

    The Montreux Convention should be revised and that this should be discussed with the Turkish Government.

17. International inland waterways
18. European inland transport conference.
19. Directives to the military commanders on allied control council for Germany.
20. Use of Allied property for satellite reparations or war trophies

    These were detailed in Annex II

21. Military Talks

• Annex I
• Annex II

Moreover, towards concluding the Pacific Theatre of War, the Potsdam Conference issued the Potsdam Declaration, the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender (26 July 1945) wherein the Western Allies (UK, US, USSR) and the Nationalist China of General Chiang Kai-shek asked Japan to surrender or be destroyed.