Lot 391

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Description:


Historically important typed manuscript, 8pp. legal folio, [n.p., likely Washington, DV], December, 1944, a late draft of the proposed terms for the 'UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER OF GERMANY' as issued by the European Advisory Commission (EAC). The document contains 14 articles ordering the Germans to: cease hostilities...against the forces of the United Nations...All armed forces of Germany, including Land, air anti-aircraft and naval forces, the S.S., S.A., and Gestapo...will be completely disarmed...[personnel] to be declared prisoners of war...All forces...will remain in their present positions...evacuation by the said forces of all territories...[to German territory] as [it] existed on the 31st of December, 1937...The German authorities will...release all other nationals of the United Nations...The Allied Representatives will station forces and civil agencies in and and all parts of Germany as they may determine...' Other parts of the document bear standards language as to the remaining in place of all military material, no destruction of military assets, release of information re: minefields, etc. The last page has places for the signatures of three 'Allied Representtaives', the 'Highest German civil authority', and the 'Highest German military authority'. The document is bears a binding strip at left and was apparently included among a larger group of documents at one time as page numbers commence at '26' and conclude at '33'. A notation at left reads: 'E.A.C. #26 12/44', probably added later. Small, blacked-out or censored area beneath pencil 'Draft' notation on first page, else very good. The formation of the European Advisory Commission (EAC) was agreed on at the Moscow Conference on 30 October 1943 between the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union, and confirmed at the Tehran Conference. In anticipation of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the commission was to study the postwar political problems in Europe and make recommendations, including surrender terms to be presented to the Germans. On 5 June 1945 the European Advisory Commission assumed briefly full control over Germany. Members included General Dwight Eisenhower for the US, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery for Britain, and Marshal Georgy Zhukov for the Soviet Union. The commission delimited German territory to its territory of 31 December 1937 minus territory handed over to Poland and the Soviet Union, divided Germany into four zones of occupation under American, British, French, and Soviet military administration and separately divided Berlin into four sectors. The Commission ceased to exist after the Potsdam Conference. This document emanates from the papers of prominent diplomat and career State Department official JOHN G. ERHARDT (1889-1951). Erhardt served as Consul in Hamburg and would later serve in London under Ambassador Joseph Kennedy. During the war, he was in a high-level State Department position in Washington, where he was involved in the planning of the surrender of Germany and occupation of Germany and Austria. After the war, he served as de facto Ambassador to Austria while Gen. Mark Clark led American occupation military forces. He would later be appointed Ambassador to South Africa.

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October 28, 2020 10:00 AM EDT
Chesapeake City, MD, US

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