The London Protocol dividing post-war Germany (1944)

In September 1944, representatives of Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union negotiated a protocol and plan for occupying post-war Germany. The London Protocol, as it became known, divided post-war Germany and post-war Berlin into discrete occupied sectors. Note that the protocol contains asterisks, since at the time of signing it had not been decided which Allied power would occupy certain zones:

“The governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics have reached the following agreement with regard to… the Instrument of unconditional surrender of Germany:

1. Germany, within her frontiers as they were on the 31st December 1937 will, for the purposes of occupation, be divided into three zones, one of which will be allotted to each of the three powers, and a special Berlin area, which will be under joint occupation by the three powers.

2. The boundaries of the three zones, and of the Berlin area, and the allocation of the three zones between the USA, the UK and the USSR will be as follows:

Eastern Zone. The territory of Germany (including the province of East Prussia) situated to the East of a line drawn from the point on Lübeck Bay… along the western frontier of Mecklenburg to the frontier of the province of Hanover, thence along the eastern frontier of Hanover to the frontier of Brunswick… will be occupied by armed forces of the USSR, with the exception of the Berlin area, for which a special system of occupation is provided below.

North-Western Zone. The territory of Germany situated to the west of the line defined above, and bounded on the south by a line drawn from the point where the western frontier of Thuringia meets the frontier of Bavaria; thence westwards along the southern frontiers of the Prussian provinces of Hessen-Nassau and Rheinprovinz to where the latter meets the frontier of France will be occupied by armed forces of ***

South-Western Zone. All the remaining territory of Western Germany situated to the south of the line defined in the description of the North-Western Zone will be occupied by armed forces of *** …

Berlin Area. The Berlin area… will be jointly occupied by armed forces of the US, UK and the USSR, assigned by the respective Commanders-in-Chief. For this purpose the territory of Greater Berlin will be divided into the following three parts:

North-Eastern Berlin (districts of Pankow, Prenzlauerberg, Mitte, Weissensee,
Friedrichshain, Lichtenberg, Treptow, Köpenick) will be occupied by the forces of the USSR.

North-Western Berlin (districts of Reinickendorf, Wedding, Tiergarten, Charlottenburg, Spandau, Wilmersdorf) will be occupied by the forces of ***

Southern Berlin (districts of Zehlendorf, Steglitz, Schoenberg, Kreuzberg, Tempelhof, Neukölln) will be occupied by the forces of ***

3. The occupying forces in each of the three zones into which Germany is divided will be under a Commander-in-Chief designated by the Government of the country whose forces occupy that zone.

4. Each of the three Powers may, at its discretion, include among the forces assigned to occupation duties under the command of its Commander-in-Chief, auxiliary contingents from the forces of any other Allied Power which has participated in military operations against Germany.

5. An Inter-Allied Governing Authority consisting of three Commandants, appointed by their respective Commanders-in-Chief, will be established to direct jointly the administration of the Greater Berlin Area.

6. This protocol has been drawn up in triplicate in the English and Russian languages. Both texts are authentic. The protocol will come into force on the signature by Germany of the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender.”