Office of the Historian

2. Paper Presented by the German Government to the Washington Ambassadorial Group1

BDQ-111
Washington, January 15, 1964.

DRAFT FRG INITIATIVE ON BERLIN AND GERMANY

(Official German translation)

Recognizing that continuance of the division of Germany will lead to continued tension and insecurity in Europe, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany deems it necessary to submit new proposals for the solution of the problem of Germany. It bases its proposals on the assumption

  • —that the safeguarding of peace and security is today more than ever a vital problem for all nations,
  • —that peace and security in Europe will remain in danger as long as the German nation is denied self-determination,
  • —that the right of self-determination constitutes a legal, political and moral principle which is indivisible and therefore must find application everywhere,
  • —that the people in all parts of Germany feel that they are members of one nation wanting to live in one state,
  • —that the Germans on the other side of the wall and of the demarcation line are unable to manifest their own will freely and without hindrance, and
  • —that the age of colonialism is coming to an end and should not be replaced by any new form of colonialism.

In taking this new initiative the Federal Government bears in mind that the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany2 and the moral responsibility of free men make it incumbent on the people of free Germany to work also for the freedom of those of their fellow-citizens to whom such freedom is denied. The Federal Government therefore proposes a settlement of the German problem based on the following principles.

1. Transitional settlement

The intricate nature of the German problem requires agreement on a transitional settlement which aims at restoring German unity in freedom. [Page 3] Such transitional settlements are nothing new. Transitional settlements in 1955 and 1956 enabled a settlement of the Saar problem which conformed to the interests of all concerned.3 Similar to the procedure adopted for the settlement of the Saar problem, an attempt should be made to agree upon fixed dates for the duration of a transitional period and for an ultimate referendum on the procedure of reunification in the whole of Germany.

2. Establishment of a Permanent Council of the Four Powers

Under international law particular responsibility for Germany as a whole has fallen to the Four Powers. The continued existence of that legal responsibility finds, as is known, its visible expression in political institutions and contacts of the Four Powers. In the interest of a lasting peace in Europe, a Permanent Council of the Four Powers should be set up for Germany on the basis of experience gathered by the Four Powers while working out a State Treaty for Austria. Amongst other duties and responsibilities such a Council would have to

(a)
fix the time-schedule for the transitional period and the date for the ultimate referendum in the whole of Germany,
(b)
work out a plan that would guarantee reunification and European security,
(c)
prepare, in cooperation with German agencies, an electoral law for the holding of all-German elections which, for practical purposes, should be along the lines of the German electoral law of 1924,
(d)
supervise the implementation of these and any additional arrangements,
(e)
pending the conclusion of a peace treaty, settle any differences of opinion arising among the Four Powers during the implementation of such arrangements.

3. Referendum

The plan worked out by the Four Powers for the implementation of reunification and the electoral law will be referred to the German people to vote upon. The referendum may take place in all of Germany as one single electoral district, or separately on both sides of the wall and the zonal border under international supervision, not excluding that of the United Nations. The following is stipulated for the preparation and implementation of the referendum:

  • —all political parties admitted in either part of Germany may become active in all parts of Germany,
  • —press, broadcasting and television services may become active in all parts of Germany without restriction,
  • —in no part of Germany must individuals or families be prejudiced because of their membership [in] a political party or organization or of an administration.

4. Humanitarian commissions

For reasons of humanity and notwithstanding any political aspects, humanitarian commissions should be set up immediately under the auspices of the Four Powers. Such mixed commissions should be assigned the duty immediately to ease the lot of Germans suffering from the division. This includes in particular the facilitation of personal contacts:

  • —families must no longer remain separated,
  • —members of the same churches or the same communities must not be hindered in the free practising of their religion or in participating in ecclesiastic self-administration,
  • —everybody must have the right to visit and maintain the graves of his next-of-kin,
  • —free contacts must be guaranteed in the cultural and vocational spheres and in the domain of sports.

Anyone wanting reunification will first of all call for milder conditions for the people suffering from the division. Any truly humanitarian policy will refrain from securing political advantages in talks on humanitarian questions. The Federal Government will do its utmost to facilitate the coming into existence of such humanitarian commissions.

5. Amnesty

A general political amnesty, in particular an amnesty for all those detained for attempted escape, for aiding refugees, or for offences or resistance against the political order in either part of Germany, is a dictate of humanity. When the time has come, the Federal Government will for its own sphere of jurisdiction propose to the legislative bodies that such an amnesty be proclaimed.

6. Extension of economic relations inside Germany

Once a minimum of human rights is guaranteed for the whole of Germany, the Federal Government, being conscious of its responsibility towards all Germans, will be prepared to make concrete economic contributions. This includes the granting of credits in interzonal trade, the extension of clearing time-limits, and other measures.

7. Friendship with East European nations

The Federal Government, which endeavours to strengthen the confidence between Germany and all other nations in the world, also seeks to establish good neighbourly and friendly relations between the German people as a whole and the peoples of East Europe. A peace conference, at which the problem of the German-Polish border will have to be clarified and a just decision on the German regions on the other side of [Page 5] the Oder and Neisse freely agreed upon,4 should be preceded by an improvement of the human, economic and political relations between the German people and its neighbouring nations in the East. Improvement of those relations must be possible. There have been examples of this in the recent past, such as the reconciliation between the German people and its neighbours in the West, particularly the French people. Now that Franco-German friendship has become an established fact, it should be possible, by means of a binding renunciation of the use of force and through recognition of the right of self-determination and domicile for all nations, to place the relations between the German people and the East European nations, too, on a new foundation.

8. European security

The Federal Government knows that there can be no constructive policy with regard to Germany without clarification of the existing European and Atlantic security problems. The restoration of German unity and the safeguarding of security for all countries and groups of countries concerned with the German problem are closely interrelated. The union of the Germans in secure freedom should not shift the balance nor impair the security of other European nations.

9. Disarmament

In connexion with the settlement of the German problem the Federal Government is prepared to do anything conducive to reducing conflicting elements, to overcoming tensions and to achieving internationally controlled disarmament. The overcoming of tensions includes the elimination of their causes one of which—and not the smallest one—is the division of Germany.

10. Peace

For Germany, reunification is not a means to strengthen her national power. After being reunified, Germany will use all her strength to render, within the family of nations, an increased contribution towards safeguarding peace and raising the prosperity of all nations.

  1. Source: Department of State, German Desk Files: Lot 76 D 170, Pol 32–4. Secret. In telegram 2465 from Bonn, January 14, the Embassy reported that the plan had been handed to representatives of the Allied powers by the German Foreign Office the same day. (Ibid., Central Files, POL 28 GER) The Washington Ambassadorial Group comprised representatives of the United States, Federal Republic of Germany, France, and Great Britain.↩
  2. For text of the Basic Law, approved May 8, 1949, see Documents on Germany, 1944–1985, pp. 221–258.↩
  3. For text of the agreement respecting the status of the Saar, signed by the Federal Republic of Germany and France, October 27, 1956, see ibid., p. 494.↩
  4. For text of the Potsdam Accords relating to the status of Germany’s border with Poland, see ibid., p. 63.↩