The Allied High Commission (also known as the High Commission for Occupied Germany, HICOG; in German Alliierte Hohe Kommission, AHK) was established by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France after the 1948 breakdown of the Allied Control Council, to regulate and supervise the development of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).

Hotel Petersberg, seat of the Commission

The Commission took its seat at the Hotel Petersberg near Bonn and started its work on September 21, 1949. It ceased to function under the terms of the Bonn–Paris conventions, on May 5, 1955.

The Occupation Statute specified the prerogatives of the Western Allies vis-à-vis the West German government, and preserved the right to intervene in areas of military, economic, and foreign policy importance. These rights were revised in the Petersberg Agreement several weeks later.

With the creation of the Federal Republic and the institution of the High Commission, the position of the Military Governors was abolished. Instead each of the three Western Allies named a High Commissioner.

High commissioners

CountryNameTenure
 France André François-Poncet 21 September 1949 – 5 May 1955
 United Kingdom Sir Brian Robertson 21 September 1949 – 24 June 1950
Sir Ivone Kirkpatrick 24 June 1950 – 29 September 1953
Sir Frederick Millar 29 September 1953 – 5 May 1955
 United States John J. McCloy 2 September 1949 – 1 August 1952
Walter J. Donnelly 1 August 1952 – 11 December 1952
Samuel Reber (acting) 11 December 1952 – 10 February 1953
James Bryant Conant 10 February 1953 – 5 May 1955

See also

References

Further reading

  • Buse, Dieter K. and Doerr, Juergen C., eds. Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture, 1871-1990 (2 vol. Garland, 1998) p 20.
  • Garner, Curt. "Remaking German democracy in the 1950s: Was the civil service an asset or a liability?." German Politics 6.3 (1997): 16–53.
  • Miller, Paul D. "A bibliographic essay on the Allied occupation and reconstruction of West Germany, 1945–1955." Small Wars & Insurgencies 24.4 (2013): 751–759.
  • Plischke. Elmer. History of the Allied High Commission for Germany, Its Establishment, Structure, and Procedures ( Research Project No. 107 of the Allied High Commission for Germany. 1951) 122pp.
  • Schwartz, Thomas Alan. America’s Germany: John J. McCloy and the Federal Republic of Germany (Harvard University Press, 2013).
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