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The Western Allies on the Desired Level of Industry in their Zones of Occupation (August 28, 1947)

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6. The United Kingdom and the United States Delegations pointed out that the capacities had been carefully estimated by normal methods and that the fixing of the capacities enables a programme to be established for the identification of plants and equipment for removal as reparations as soon as practicable.

7. The three delegations agreed that the measures about to be taken by the United Kingdom and United States commanders-in-chief do not prejudge quadripartite decisions of the Council of Foreign Ministers in respect to the level of industry for Germany as a whole or such industrial limitations as may be imposed by the peace settlement.

8. The French Delegation emphasized the importance which its government attached to having assurances, relating to the progressive character of German rehabilitation mentioned in paragraph 2 above, embodied in a concrete agreement with special reference to the distribution of Ruhr coal and coke, those resources being essential to European heavy industry. The French Delegation has asked that there should be an adjustment of the present arrangements to permit of a greater proportion of coke in the present export allocations and that there should be a review of the sliding scale agreement for Ruhr coal and coke exports with a view to extending it beyond the present figures. On the understanding that the coal available for consumption in the Anglo-American zones of Germany as a result of the present sliding scale would not be diminished, the United Kingdom and United States Delegations have agreed that the French proposals should be discussed forthwith in Berlin.

9. The United Kingdom and United States Delegations stated the reasons why they could not postpone the publication of the plan for the level of industry in the Anglo-American zones of Germany until the conclusion of the discussions referred to above, and informed the French Delegation that the plan would be published in Berlin on August 29th.

10. The French Delegation took note of this statement and gave the reasons why, for its part, it could not withdraw its objections pending a satisfactory outcome of the proposed discussions.




Source: Communiqué on Discussions between Representatives of the United Kingdom, United States, and French governments in London, Relating to the Level of Industry in the Combined Anglo-American Zones and the Management and Control of the Ruhr mines (August 28, 1947), in United States Department of State, Germany 1947-1949: The Story in Documents. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950, p. 356; reprinted in Beata Ruhm von Oppen, ed., Documents on Germany under Occupation, 1945-1954. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1955, pp. 238-39.

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