Allied Control Council
연합국관리위원회
The Allied Control Council was the supreme governing body established by the four occupying powers, the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France, to jointly administer defeated Germany after the Second World War. Founded in 1945 under the Berlin Declaration and the Potsdam Agreement, it exercised supreme authority over Germany as a whole, with every decision requiring unanimity among the four powers. As the Cold War sharpened, the Soviet representative Vasily Sokolovsky walked out of the Council on 20 March 1948, leaving it effectively paralysed.
In depth
Foundation and composition
The Council's origins lay in the Agreement on Control Machinery in Germany, drafted by the European Advisory Commission and signed in London on 14 November 1944. After Germany's unconditional surrender, the Berlin Declaration of 5 June 1945 vested supreme authority in the four powers, and the Council formally constituted itself on 30 August 1945. Its members were the four zone commanders, initially Zhukov (USSR), Eisenhower (US), Montgomery (Britain), and de Lattre de Tassigny (France), and its seat was in Schöneberg, Berlin.
Activities
The Council legislated through proclamations, laws, orders, directives, and instructions, abolishing Nazi laws and organisations, and carrying out denazification, demilitarisation, and the dissolution of the German armed forces. Law No. 46 (25 February 1947) abolished Prussia as an administrative unit, seen as a symbol of militarism. Yet real power lay with the individual occupation governments and military governors, and many of the Council's decisions remained mere recommendations.
Paralysis and dissolution
Because every decision required unanimity, cooperation soon faltered. The British and Americans merged their zones into the Bizone on 1 January 1947 and prepared a currency reform. In response, the Soviet representative Vasily Sokolovsky walked out on 20 March 1948, followed by the Berlin Blockade of 1948–1949. The Council was never formally dissolved, but effectively ceased activity until the Four Power Agreement on Berlin in 1971, its only remaining joint functions being Spandau Prison and the Berlin Air Safety Centre. It formally lapsed with German unification in 1990, when the Two Plus Four Treaty restored full sovereignty.
Related historical events
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) four-power governing body of occupied Germany (1945–1949/1991) and Austria, members USSR/US/UK/France, sole legal sovereign authority for Germany as a whole, seat in Schöneberg, constituted 30 August 1945, unanimity rule, Sokolovsky walkout 20 March 1948, formal lapse with 1990 reunification
- Wikipedia (RU) origin in 14 Nov 1944 control-machinery agreement, initial members Zhukov/Eisenhower/Montgomery/de Lattre, Law No. 46 abolishing Prussia, more than 80 sessions before 1948, boycott 20 March 1948
- germanhistorydocs.org begun meeting 30 July 1945 and officially commenced 30 August 1945, four supreme commanders doubling as military governors, unanimity requirement, Sokolovsky walked out 20 March 1948 after which the Council discontinued its work
- docs.historyrussia.org Marshal Sokolovsky's statements at the Control Council session of 20 March 1948 (primary source)