Evening star., 1945-08-03
The Berlin Conference

that the Stain -Truman-Attlee re-
port on the Conference of Berlin
will stand up as by far the most
satisfactory and most Informative
statement of its kind yet issued by
the Big Three. The language is the
clear, strong language of victors who
are reasonably sure of where they
are going. Not since the war began
has the world been vouchsafed such
detailed preview of the pattern of
the next peace.
The report is not the last word
on the subject, of course. 1t does
not pretend to be. 1t makes clear
that the conference, in addition to
reaching many important decisions
and agreements, discussed a number
Of questions that still remain to be
answered. The final delimitation of
Poland's western boundary, what to
do with certain Italian territories,
the expansion of the Austrian gov
ernment, the disposal of the Ger
man Navy and merchant marine,
the orderly and humane" expulsion
of Germans from Poland, CZecho-
slovakia and Hungary, and not i'm
probably the future of the Dar-
danelles-these are some of the mat
ters that must yet be ironed out,
and perhaps more than a few of
them will severely test Anglo Amer
ican-RusSian craftsmanship in the
weeks ahead.
All such reservations to one side,
however, the fact remains that the
Big Three, If their words mean what
they clearly seem to say, have taken
long step forward in giving effect
to the principles agreed on at Yalta.
The report on their work at Berlin
can be summarized only at the risk
of oversimplification, but its basic
import is that Britain, Russia and
America have at last agreed on COM
mon mechanisms and policies for
coming directly to grips with the
task of building "just and endur-
ing" peace. To this end the confer
ence covered very wide range of
problems. 1t reaff1rmed the tripartite
determination to punish war GRIM
inals. suggested that recent differ
enceS on this subject would soon be
settled and promised that the first
list of the accused would be pub
lished before September /. 1t dWelt
at length upon Poland, stated that
Poles returning from abroad should
lose none of their rights, and OBJ
served reasSuringly that the Allied
press will enjoy full freedom to re-
port to the world upon developments
in Poland before and during the
elections" to be held there. 1t OBJ
served also, in an equally reassuring
manner, that the same freedom will
be enjoyed in Romania, Bulgaria,
Hungary and Finland, thus prom
Using an end to the RuSsian-imposed
news blackout in those areas. Fur
ther, it delivered a political hammer
blow to the Franco regime by sharply
declaring that the Big Three would
look with disfavor on any applica-
ton from the present Spanish gov
ernment for membership in the
United Nations.
But the most important of all the
work done at Berlin was that deal
ing with a declaration of political
and economic principles for the con-
troll Of Germany, with the devising
of reparations program, and with
the setting up OF a Council OF
Foreign Ministers to replace the
European Advisory Council. The
declaration of principles cannot be
summarized. 1t must be read in full
for a clear understanding of how
determined the victors are to de-
militarize and de-Nazify the beaten
enemy to insure the safety of Europe
and to make possible the rebirth of
the German people as peaceful and
free citizens of the world.
AS for reparations, it is noteworthy
that no mention is made of man
power and that there appears to
be full agreement on a formula
under which % Russian and Polish
claims would be met by the removal
of equipment from the Russian zone
of occupation and by seizure of ex-
ternal German assets in Bulgaria,
Finland, Hungary, Romania and
Eastern Austria; (2) the claims of
the western Allies would be met
by equipment in their zones and by
German assets in all other countries;
and 60 the Russians, in exchange
for an equivalent value of food, coal,
ETC., from their zone would receive
from our. Allied zones Is per cent of
all industrial capital goods unneces-
sary for the German peace economy
plus another 10 per cent of such
goods in exchange for nothing. At
first glance this may seem to give
Russia the better part of the bar
gain, but the arrangement must be
read in relation to the fact that the
greater part of German industry is
located in the areas controlled by
France, Britain and the United
States.
Both the German control declara-
finnN and the rano 70 fioras ralan