Central (C): General (C). Political Exchanges Leading Towards Four-Power Talks on the Future of Germany

A file containing documents concerning the joint reply by the British, French, and American governments to a Soviet note on the future of Germany. The file includes a series of British, French, and American drafts and edits for the reply, in which the three countries stress the need to discuss the formation of a democratic German government at the next meeting of the four powers, and emphasize their right to consult each other without the Soviet Union. The file includes the final published white paper by the British government, which contains the Soviet note and the Allied reply, and concludes with an invitation for a meeting of the four foreign ministers in Switzerland. Other topics discussed include the question of Austrian independence; Italian views on the Four Powers meeting; and the Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian ambassadors' views on the Soviet note.