Occupation statute

Protest against The Ruhr Agreement, and against the occupation statute.

The Occupation Statute of Germany (German: Besatzungsstatut) of April 10, 1949 specified the roles and responsibilities of the newly created German government and the Allied High Commission in West Germany. It was drawn up by American, British, and French representatives and was in rule until the Treaties of Paris (1954) came into force on May 5, 1955.

The statute's authors were United States Secretary of State Dean Acheson, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Ernest Bevin, and the French Prime Minister Robert Schuman, who deliberated for eight days in intensive conferences in Washington, DC. It gave Germany conditional sovereignty and admitted it into the Marshall Plan organization as an equal partner. The Allies retained the right to keep occupational forces in the country and complete control over disarmament, demilitarization, related fields of scientific research, war reparations, the Ruhr, decartelization, displaced persons and refugees, protection, prestige and security of the occupying forces, foreign affairs, and foreign trade and exchange.^[1]

The Allies' representatives asked the Parliamentary council drafting a constitution to accept the statute. Although it met resistance from the SPD, the council accepted the Occupation Statute.^[1]

See also

• Allied Control Council, the Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany and the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany.
• Petersberg Protocol of November 1949. Signed between the three Allies and Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

References

1. Agreement on Germany in Time April 18, 1949. Retrieved 2007-01-09.