Leseprobe

14 a total of thirteen sessions, each starting at 5 p.m. and lasting approximately one to two hours. These sessions were preceded by preparatory discussions in committees consisting of the relevant representatives of each delegation, starting at 8 a.m., and the ses- sions of Foreign Secretaries Byrnes, Molotov and Eden or Bevin, together with their staffs, starting at 11 a.m. A decision easily reached at the beginning of negotiations was the establishment of a Council of Foreign Ministers, which was to include, next to the representatives of the three statesmen convened at Potsdam, the foreign ministers of China and France. The Council was asked to take the the necessary preparatory steps for the peace treaties with the defeated former enemy states, the negotiation and conclusion of which was not meant to be the purpose of the conference. The content of the Potsdam negotiations is reflected in the “Communiqué” issued by the three governments at the end of the conference. This Communiqué was primarily about the treatment of the German Reich, including the definition of how Germany was to be understood in terms of territory; the internal and external reorgani- sation of the country; its reparation payments and, finally, the German Navy and merchant fleet. The three governments also agreed on holding elections in Poland and on shifting Poland’s border westwards. Pending its final determination in a peace settlement, the border was formed by “a line running from the Baltic Sea immedi- ately west of Swinemunde, and thence along the Oder River to the confluence of the western Neisse River and along the western Neisse to the Czechoslovak frontier”. 1 The Communiqué expressed the desire “that the present anomalous position of Italy, Bulgaria, Fin- land, Hungary and Rumania should be terminated by the conclusion of Peace Treaties” and declared the willingness to support “the admission of other states into the United Nations Organization”. 2 It also included the agreement on the provisional treatment of Aus- tria. Finally, the report announced, “the agreement on the removal of Germans from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary”. 3 The “Protocol of the Proceedings of the Berlin Conference” and the conference documents of the three participating states was not published until 24 March 1947. They provide further and deeper insight into the negotiations, revealing the way they were conducted and what goals the respective governments pursued. They also reflect the diversity of the topics discussed, which cannot be inferred from the previously published Communiqué. Among other topics, these include the situation in Spain and the future dealings with the Franco government. In this context, they also cover Tangier, France, Italy, Yugoslavia and conditions in Greece, the Black Sea Straits, Syria and Lebanon and the future of Iran. Of these, only Iran, Tangier and the Black Sea Straits were included as independent sub-items in the “Protocol”. 4 The Potsdam talks carried political weight, both at the time and afterwards. They staked out influences and spheres of influence. Opening session of the Potsdam Conference at Cecilienhof Palace, Potsdam