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Volume III · Page 960
| [author…] ity and control which was
assumed and exercised by the Allied Powers. They assumed "supreme authority"
and declared that it was their purpose to accomplish complete demilitarization
of Germany; to destroy the National Socialist Party, to prevent Nazi
propaganda; to abolish all Nazi laws which "established discrimination on
grounds of race, creed, or political opinion * * * whether legal,
administrative, or otherwise"; to control education; to reorganize the judicial
system in accordance with the principles of democracy and of equal rights; to
accomplish the decentralization of the political structure. The agreement
provided that "for the time being no central German government shall be
established". In the economic field they assumed control of "German industry
and all economic and financial international transactions".* Finally, the
Allies reaffirmed their intention to bring the Nazi war criminals to swift and
sure justice. It is this fact of the complete disintegration of the government in Germany, followed by unconditional surrender and by occupation of the territory, which explains and justifies the assumption and exercise of supreme governmental power by the Allies. The same fact distinguishes the present occupation of Germany from the type of occupation which occurs when, in the course of actual warfare, an invading army enters and occupies the territory of another state, whose government is still in existence and is in receipt of international recognition, and whose armies, with those of its allies, are still in the field. In the latter case the occupying power is subject to the limitations imposed upon it by the Hague Convention and by the laws and customs of war. In the former case (the occupation of Germany) the Allied Powers were not subject to those limitations. By reason of the complete breakdown of government, industry, agriculture, and supply, they were under an imperative humanitarian duty of far wider scope to reorganize government and industry and to foster local democratic governmental agencies throughout the territory. In support of the distinction made, we quote from two recent and scholarly articles in "The American Journal of International Law." |
"On the other hand, a distinction is clearly warranted between measures taken by the Allies prior to destruction of the German Government and those taken thereafter. Only the former need be tested by the Hague Regulations, which are inapplicable to the situation now prevailing in Germany. Disappearance of the German State as a belligerent entity, necessarily implied in the Declaration of Berlin of 5 June 1945, signifies |
