Munich Prime Minister's Conference

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The Bavarian Prime Minister Ehard during his address at the conference

At the Munich Prime Minister's Conference from June 5 to 6, 1947, the Prime Ministers of all German states or their deputies met.

The meeting was initiated by Hans Ehard , the then Bavarian Prime Minister. The US occupation forces were the first to be informed of the planned conference and Lucius D. Clay gave his approval on May 6, 1947. On May 7, 1947, after many preliminary investigations, the invitation telegram was sent by Hans Ehard. The aim was future cooperation between the countries. The SPD , especially Kurt Schumacher , resisted negotiating with the SED as long as the SPD was banned in the Soviet Zone and the party executive obliged the SPD minister-presidents to speak only about the economic situation in Germany. In the Soviet Zone , the refusal to involve parties and unions led to discussions in the Central Committee of the SED . Walter Ulbricht denied the prime minister all-German legitimation. Nevertheless, he was defeated in the vote in the Central Committee, so that the East Zonal Prime Minister could participate in the conference. The French governor called for the prime ministers not to debate political issues. Overall, the conference took place under poor conditions from the outset.

The conference was initiated on June 4, 1947 by the meeting of the plenipotentiaries of the countries, who drew up an agenda by the afternoon of June 5, 1947. The pre-conference opened on the evening of June 5, 1947 with a meal. The preliminary meeting of the Prime Ministers on the agenda began at 9:55 p.m. On behalf of the minister-presidents of the Soviet occupation zone, Wilhelm Höcker , minister-president of the state of Mecklenburg, commented on the agenda and requested the addition of the following item: "Formation of a German central administration through understanding between democratic parties and unions to create a unified German state". The prime ministers of the western countries rejected the request.

Then said Karl Steinhoff , Prime Minister of the province of Brandenburg, the departure of the Prime Minister of the Soviet occupation zone. On the morning of June 6, 1947, the Mayor of Bremen, Wilhelm Kaisen, and Ferdinand Friedensburg , Deputy Mayor of Greater Berlin, attempted an unsuccessful mediation. They went to see the prime ministers of the Soviet occupation zone, who were still in Munich, who demanded a gesture to resume talks. They had disregarded the decision of the Central Committee of the SED to leave immediately if the application was rejected. After the rejection of this gesture, the representatives of the federal states in the Soviet Zone left early without any result. The prime ministers of the western countries then dealt mainly with economic issues, but also with the refugee and food issues that existed at the time.

The failure of the conference was due to the lack of negotiating skills on the part of Hans Ehard, but above all to the fact that the division of Germany had already been pushed too far at this point.

Web links

Commons : Munich Prime Minister's Conference  - collection of images, videos and audio files