ABSTRACT
Germany was divided economically as well as politically by the end of 1945. Byrnes proposed a treaty with the major powers to create a unified demilitarised Germany, but the Soviets turned it down. Great Britain and the United States agreed to merge their zones and the Americans decided to give Germans greater responsibility for their own affairs. Byrnes announced this at Stuttgart.
The carrying out of the Potsdam Agreement has . . . been obstructed by the failure of the Allied Control Council to take the necessary steps to enable the German economy to function as an economic unit. Essential central German administrative departments have not been established, although they are expressly required by the Potsdam Agreement. . . .
