Allied Control Council The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority , known in the German language as the " Alliierter Kontrollrat " and also referred to as the Four Powers ( German : Vier Mächte ) , was a military occupation governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany after the end of World War II in Europe . The members were the Soviet Union , the United States , and the United Kingdom ; France was later added with a vote , but had no duties . The organization was based in Berlin - Schöneberg . Creation . Preparations for the postwar occupation of Germany began in the Allied camp during the second half of 1944 , following the beginning of Allied penetration into Germany . Most of the planning was carried out by the European Advisory Commission ( EAC ) established in early 1944 . Already on January 3 , 1944 , the Working Security Committee in the EAC concluded that It further recommended the creation of a tripartite US , Soviet and British agency to conduct German affairs following the surrender of the Third Reich . The British representative at the EAC , Sir William Strang , was undecided on whether a partial occupation of Germany by Allied troops was the most desirable course of action . At the first EAC meeting on January 14 , 1944 , Strang proposed alternatives that favored the total occupation of Germany , similar to the situation following the First World War when Allied rule was established over the Rhineland . Strang believed that a full occupation would limit the reliance on former Nazis to maintain order within Germany . He also believed that it would make the lessons of defeat more visible to the German population and would enable the Allied governments to carry out punitive policies in Germany , such as transferring territories to Poland . The main arguments against total occupation were that it would create an untold burden on Allied economies and prolong the suffering of the German population , possibly driving new revanchist ideologies . However , his final conclusion was that a total occupation would be most beneficial , at least during the initial phase . In August 1944 , the US government established the United States Group to the Control Council for Germany , which served as a liaison group within the EAC for planning the future occupation of Germany . The chairman of this group was Brig . Gen . Cornelius Wendell Wickersham . As the German collapse approached , Sir William Strang became convinced that Germany was about to undergo a total collapse , in which case a total occupation and control would be inevitable . He even proposed a draft declaration to be issued by the Allied governments in case no political authority would remain in Germany due to chaotic conditions . For a brief period , this prospect was feared by some Allied representatives . After the death of Adolf Hitler on April 30 , 1945 , Karl Dönitz became president of Germany in accordance with Hitler ' s last political testament . He authorised the signing , at Rheims , of the unconditional surrender of all German forces , which took effect on 8 May 1945 , and tried to establish a government under von Krosigk . This government was not recognised by the Allies , and Dönitz and the other members were arrested on 23 May by British forces . The German Instrument of Surrender used by Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force at Rheims , was modeled on the one used a few days previously to allow the German forces in Italy to surrender . They did not use the one which had been drafted for the surrender of Germany by the " European Advisory Commission " ( EAC ) . This created a legal problem for the Allies , because although the German armed forces had surrendered unconditionally , the " civilian " German government had not been included in the surrender . This was considered a very important issue , inasmuch as Hitler had used the surrender of the civilian government , but " not " of the military , in 1918 , to create the " stab in the back " argument . The Allies understandably did not want to give any future hostile German regime any kind of legal argument to resurrect an old quarrel . Eventually they decided not to recognise Dönitz , but to sign a four - power document instead , creating the Allied Control Council . On 5 June 1945 , in Berlin , the supreme commanders of the four occupying powers signed a common Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany ( the so - called Berlin Declaration of 1945 ) , which formally abolished any German governance over the nation : This imposition was in line with Article 4 of the Instrument of Surrender that had been included so that the EAC document , or something similar , could be imposed on the Germans after the military surrender . Article 4 stated that " This act of military surrender is without prejudice to , and will be superseded by any general instrument of surrender imposed by , or on behalf of the United Nations and applicable to GERMANY and the German armed forces as a whole . " In reality , of course , all German central civilian authority had ceased to exist with the death of Hitler and the fall of Berlin at the latest . These parts of the Berlin declaration , therefore , merely formalised the " de facto " status and placed the Allied military rule over Germany on a solid legal basis . An additional agreement was signed on September 20 , 1945 and further elaborated the powers of the Control Council . The actual exercise of power was carried out according to the model first laid out in the " Agreement on Control Machinery in Germany " that had been signed by the United States , the United Kingdom , and the Soviet Union on 14 November 1944 in London based on the work of the European Advisory Commission . Germany was divided into three zones of occupation — American , British , and Soviet — each being ruled by the Commander - in - Chief of the respective occupation forces . ( Later a French zone was added . ) " Matters that affect Germany as a whole , " however , would have to be decided jointly by all three Commanders - in - Chief , who for this purpose would form a single organ of control . This authority was called the Control Council . The purpose of the Allied Control Council in Germany , like the other Allied Control Commissions and Councils which were established by the Allies over every defeated Axis power , was to deal with the central administration of the country ( an idea that hardly materialised in the case of Germany , as that administration totally broke down with the end of the war ) and to assure that the military administration was carried out with a certain uniformity throughout all of Germany . The Potsdam Agreement of 2 August 1945 further specified the tasks of the Control Council . Operation . On 30 August 1945 the Control Council constituted itself and issued its first proclamation , which informed the German people of the Council ' s existence and asserted that the commands and directives issued by the Commanders - in - Chief in their respective zones were not affected by the establishment of the Council . The initial members of the Control Council were as follows : Marshal Georgy Zhukov for the Soviet Union , General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower for the United States , Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery for the United Kingdom , and General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny for France . In the following time , the Control Council issued a substantial number of laws , directives , orders , and proclamations . They dealt with the abolition of Nazi laws and organisations , demilitarisation , denazification , but also with such comparatively pedestrian matters as telephone tariffs and the combat of venereal diseases . On many issues the council was unable to impose its resolutions , as real power lay in the hands of the separate Allied governments and their military governors , and the council issued recommendations that did not have the force of law . On September 20 , 1945 , the council issued Directive no . 10 , which divided the various official acts of the Control Council into five categories ( texts in quotation marks are direct quotations from the said above directive ) : Directive no . 11 of the same day made the work of the council more orderly by establishing English , French , Russian and German as the official languages of the council , and by establishing an official gazette to publish the council ' s official acts . Law no . 1 of the Control Council ( also enacted on September 20 , 1945 ) repealed some of the most strictly Nazi laws enacted under the Third Reich . This established the legal basis for the council ' s work . Directive no . 51 ( April 29 , 1947 ) , repealing Directive no . 10 , simplified the council ' s legislative work by reducing the categories of legislative acts to Proclamations , Laws and Orders . War criminals . Directive no . 9 ( August 30 , 1945 ) charged the legal division of the council with the responsibility to formulate policies to carry out the provisions of the London Agreement on the prosecution of German war criminals , signed in London on August 8 of the same year . Shortly after the commencement of the Nuremberg Trial , the council enacted Law no . 10 ( December 20 , 1945 ) , which authorized every occupying power to have its own legal system to try war criminals and to conduct such trials independently of the International Military Tribunal then sitting at Nuremberg . Law no . 10 resulted from disagreements arising among the Allied governments regarding formulating common policy regarding war criminals and marked the beginning of the decline in inter - Allied cooperation to that effect . Following the conclusion of the Nuremberg Trial of Major War Criminals in October 1946 , inter - Allied cooperation on war crimes totally collapsed . On October 12 , 1946 , the council issued Directive no . 38 , which , while trying to impose some common rules , allowed the four occupation governments discretion as to treatment of persons suspected of war crimes arrested by them , including the right to grant amnesty . Dissolution of the German army and government agencies . Order no . 1 of August 30 , 1945 prohibited the wearing of uniform of the German Army , which now ceased to exist . An order dated September 10 , ordered the recall of all German government agents and / or diplomatic representatives from the countries to which they were assigned . Another order of the same day established procedure for disseminating information to the press on the council ' s work , ordering that a press release be issued following every meeting of the council . Directive no . 18 ( November 12 , 1945 ) provided for the dissolution of all German Army units , all within a time limit to be decided upon . This directive reflects the policy taken by the western Allied governments of using German military units for their own logistical purposes , a move objected by the Soviet government . The complete dissolution of all German military units and military training was provided for in Law no . 8 ( November 30 , 1945 ) , which became effective on December 1 , 1945 . Restoration of order into German hands . Law no . 4 ( October 30 , 1945 ) reestablished the German court system according to German legislation enacted prior to Hitler ' s rise to power . Directive no . 16 ( November 6 , 1945 ) provided for the equipment of the German police forces with light weapons to combat crime , while the carrying of automatic rifles was prohibited except with special Allied permission . Law no . 21 ( March 30 , 1946 ) provided for the establishment of labor courts to resolve labor disputes within the German population . These courts were to be run by German judges . Gradually , the Allied governments relaxed their control over German political life , and on June 3 , 1946 , the Political Directorate of the Control Council recommended to hold municipal elections in the city of Berlin in October of the same year . On August 3 , 1946 , the council approved a new provisional constitution for Greater Berlin metropolitan area . Another reform relating to Berlin took place on August 22 , 1946 , as the council approved a reform plan for the police of Greater Berlin , which assigned four assistants to the Berlin Chief of Police , each to overlook police work in each of the four occupation sectors in that metropolitan area . Denazification and eradication of militarism . Law no . 2 ( October 10 , 1945 ) provided for the total dissolution of the National Socialist Party , and its revival was totally prohibited . As part of the denazification policy , Directive no . 23 ( December 17 , 1945 ) prohibited any athletic activities that was being done as part of military or para - military training , prohibition to be effective as of January 1 , 1946 . Directive no . 24 ( January 12 , 1946 ) established a set of comprehensive criteria for the removal from public office those " who have been more than nominal participants in its ( Nazi Party ) activities " and provided for their removal from any civil service or work in civil organization , labor unions , industry , education or the press and any work other than simple labor . The category of persons to which the directive applied were those who held significant positions in the Nazi Party or those who joined prior to 1937 , the time when membership became compulsory for German citizens . In order to eradicate the influence of Nazi literature on the German population , Order no . 4 ( May 13 , 1946 ) prohibited the publication and dissemination of Nazi or militarist literature and demanded to hand over any existing such literature to the Allied authorities . Law no . 31 ( July 1 , 1946 ) prohibited the German police authorities to conduct any surveillance of political activities by German citizens in the various occupation zones . Some reforms were symbolic in nature . Law no . 46 ( February 25 , 1947 ) abolished for good the State of Prussia as an administrative unit within Germany , citing past militarism associated with that name as the cause for the change . Part of the former territory of Prussia was no longer even populated by Germans , as it became part of Poland after most Germans had been forcibly relocated westward , while the rest of the territory of Prussia was divided among other German Länder . Law no . 57 ( August 30 , 1947 ) dissolved all German insurance companies that were connected with the German Labor Front , established on May 1 , 1933 . Expulsion of German speaking minorities residing outside Germany . One major issue dealt with by the Control Council was the decision made at the Potsdam Conference regarding the forced removal of German minorities from Czechoslovakia , Hungary and Poland to the four occupation zones of Germany . On November 20 , 1945 , the council approved a plan to that effect , to be completed by July 1946 . Other issues . On September 10 , 1945 the council issued an appeal to the separate Allied military governors , requesting them to relax trade regulations between the four occupation zones , but this was only a recommendation , as each Allied government maintained the real power on such matters . On September 17 , the council issued recommendations to the four occupying powers to establish tracing bureaus to assist displaced persons . On September 20 , the council issued an order prohibiting fraternization between Allied military personnel and the German population , effective from October 1 , except in cases of marriage or when a military governor decided to billet his soldiers with a German family . Law no . 5 ( October 30 , 1945 ) created the German External Property Commission , which was authorized to confiscate any German assets outside of Germany until the Control Council decided how to dispose of it in the interests of peace . The composition of that commission was decided in Directive no . 21 ( November 20 , 1945 ) . Law no . 7 ( November 30 , 1945 ) regulated the distribution of electricity and gas in the various occupation zones . Law no . 9 ( the same day ) provided for the confiscation of all assets owned by the IG Farben conglomerate . Law no . 32 ( July 10 , 1946 ) permitted the German local authorities to employ women in manual labor , this due to the shortage in manpower . Supplement to Directive no . 14 ( September 13 , 1946 ) equalized the wages of female and minor workers with male workers . Law no . 49 ( March 20 , 1947 ) abrogated the German law of 1933 which governed relations between the German government and the German Evangelical Church , while keeping the independence of that church in internal matters . Law no . 62 ( February 20 , 1948 ) repealed all Nazi laws regulating the activities of churches in Germany . Deterioration in inter - Allied cooperation within the council . Relations between the Western Allies ( especially the United States and the United Kingdom ) and the Soviet Union quickly deteriorated , and so did their cooperation in the administration of occupied Germany . Within each zone each power ran its own administration , such as the Gouvernement Militaire de la Zone Française d ' Occupation en Allemagne ( GMZFO ) in Karlsruhe , the Советская военная администрация в Германии ( СВАГ ) ; Sovetskaia Voennaia Administratsia v Germanii ( SVAG ) in East Berlin , the Control Commission for Germany - British Element ( CCG / BE ) in Bad Oeynhausen , and the Office of Military Government , United States ( OMGUS ) in West Berlin and Frankfurt upon Main . Already in September 1946 , disagreement arose regarding the distribution of coal for industry in the four occupation zones , and the Soviet representative in the council withdrew his support of the plan agreed upon by the governments of the United States , Britain and France . Against Soviet protests , the two English - speaking powers pushed for a heightened economic collaboration between the different zones , and on 1 January 1947 the British and American zones merged to form the Bizone . Over the course of 1947 and early 1948 , they began to prepare the currency reform that would introduce the Deutsche Mark , and ultimately the creation of an independent West German state . When the Soviets learnt about this , they claimed that such plans were in violation of the Potsdam Agreement , that obviously the Western powers were not interested in further regular four - power control of Germany , and that under such circumstances the Control Council had no purpose anymore . On 20 March 1948 , Marshal Vasily Sokolovsky , the Soviet representative , walked out of the meeting of the Council , never to return . After the breakdown . As the Control Council could only act with the agreement of all four members , this move basically shut down the institution , while the Cold War reached an early high point during the Soviet blockade of Berlin . The Allied Control Council was not formally dissolved , but ceased all activity except the operations of the Four - Power Authorities , namely the management of the Spandau Prison where persons convicted at the Nuremberg Trials were held until 1987 , and the Berlin Air Safety Center . The Western powers instituted the Allied High Commission by September 1949 which remained in operation until 1955 . In Eastern Germany , the Soviet administration with its representative of the ACC was the highest authority , later this position was converted to a High Commissioner as well , until the German Democratic Republic gained sovereignty . Germany remained under nominal military occupation until 15 March 1991 , when the final ratification of the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany ( signed on 12 September 1990 ) was lodged with the German Government . This , as the final peace treaty signed by the four powers and the two German governments , formally restored full sovereignty to a reunified Germany . It also meant the official end of the Allied Control Council , insofar as it still existed at all . The Kammergericht building . During its short active life , the Allied Control Council was housed in and operated from the former building of the Kammergericht , the supreme court of the state of Prussia , which is situated in Berlin ' s Schöneberg borough in the American sector . The building itself had suffered some battle damage , losing a central tower , but had remained mostly usable . After the cessation of most council activity in 1948 , all occupying powers quickly withdrew from the building to their respective sectors of the city , leaving the facility cold , empty and dark . Only one four - power organisation , the Berlin Air Safety Center ( BASC ) , remained in the building from 1945 until December 31 , 1990 . As a symbol of the BASC ' s continued presence , the four national flags of the occupying powers still flew over the large front doors every day . The only other signs of occupancy were the few , sparse office lights that emanated from a small corner room of the building — the BASC Operations Room — in the evenings . Of the 550 rooms in the building , the BASC office complex and guards ' quarters occupied fewer than forty . Because of the BASC ' s presence , the building remained closely guarded by United States military guards , with access granted only to select members of the four powers . This led to mysterious legends and ghost stories about the eerie , dark facility with its grand , granite statuary overlooking the beautiful park . After the fall of the Berlin Wall , and the departure of Russian troops in August in 1994 ( a withdrawal that took place in accordance with article 4 of the Two Plus Four Treaty ) , the building was returned to the German government . In 1997 , its erstwhile occupant , the Kammergericht , moved in . It now functions as the supreme court of the state of Berlin .