Office of the Historian

740.00119 Control (Germany)/7–945: Telegram

No. 516
The Acting Secretary of State to the Political Adviser in Germany (Murphy)1
secret
u. s. urgent
Washington, July 9, 1945—6 p.m.

85. With respect to Marshal Zhukov’s statement2 that the Crimea Conference established the Polish frontier along the Oder and Neisse rivers, we can only comment that he has been misinformed. It was there agreed that at a subsequent time Poland should receive an increase of territory in the west but this Govt has not accepted any specific line and has not agreed to a date for the transfer of German territory to Poland. Our understanding that delineation of new Polish-German frontier is a matter for later understanding is unqualifiedly confirmed by Vyshinski’s letter of May 16 to Harriman3 in which the deputy commissar emphasizes as self-evident that the [Page 757] final determination of Poland’s western boundary will be made at the peace settlement as envisaged by the Crimea agreement.

Until that understanding has been reached we can only adhere to the protocol of Sep 12, 1944 which, in describing the zones of occupation, defined the Germany to be occupied as that “within her frontiers as they were on the 31st Dec, 1937”.

The US position has been made abundantly clear to the Sov Govt in a communication to SovFonOff based on Dept tel May 8.4

Specific comments on Berlin food and coal problem will follow.5

Grew
J[ohn] D H[ickerson]
  1. The gist of this message was included in telegram No. 12 of July 10 from Grew to Byrnes (file No. 800.00 Summaries/7–1045).↩
  2. See document No. 515.↩
  3. See document No. 510, footnote 4.↩
  4. See document No. 510, footnote 4.↩
  5. See document No. 431.↩