Inter-allied High Committee for the Rhineland

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Allied occupation of the Rhineland after the First World War
Paul Tirard and Marshal Adolphe Guillaumat

The Inter-Allied High Committee for the Rhineland , also known as the Inter-Allied Rhineland Commission (IRKO), was an institution of the four allied occupying powers France , Belgium , the USA and Great Britain that existed in the Rhineland from 1920 after the end of the First World War . It acted as the highest administrative authority in the areas of the Rhineland occupied by the Peace Treaty of Versailles and the associated Rhineland Agreement . Based on the bridgeheads of the Rhine, three zones of occupation were created: a British zone based in Cologne , an American zone based in Koblenz and a Franco-Belgian zone based in Mainz . After the US occupation forces had withdrawn completely in January 1923, the British left their first zone around Cologne by early 1926. Until the evacuation at the end of August 1929, the second zone around Koblenz last occupied by the British and Belgians still existed.

The Rhineland Commission had its seat in the Upper Presidium of the Rhine Province in Koblenz and began its work on January 10, 1920. According to the Rhineland Agreement, it included a representative from each of the four occupying powers. The president was Paul Tirard , who represented France in the commission. German interests in relation to the commission were represented by the so-called Reichskommissariat for the occupied Rhenish territories, to which representatives of all the German states concerned belonged and which arose in 1919 on the initiative of Prussia . The commission was able to issue ordinances (ordinances) which were supposed to ensure the safety and maintenance of the occupation troops as well as the maintenance of public life. It was authorized to issue instructions to the German authorities in the occupied territories; German laws and regulations had to be approved by the Commission. Violations of the Commission's instructions were punishable by law.

Until 1929 the conference venue was the current building of the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz . The commission existed until the end of the occupation; its seat was moved to a hotel in Wiesbaden in November 1929 . The last meeting of the IRKO took place on June 28, 1930. Two days later, when the third occupation zone was abandoned, the occupied territories were finally evacuated.

literature

  • The political ordinances of the Inter-Allied Rhineland Commission in Coblenz (via the press, associations, meetings, etc.) and their application in the years 1920–1924. A collection of specimens (= documents on the occupation of the Rhineland. H. 1). Heymann, Berlin 1925 ( digitized version ).

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