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New British-US Agreement
A move toward the elimination of the bar-
riers between the British and US Zones went
into effect this week with the relaxing of re-
strictions on travel between the two zones of
Germany.
The agreement, ratified by the British and
US authorities, provides that German na-
tionals and non-German civilians who are
lawful residents of the British or US Zones
may travel between or within the two zones
without restriction but subject to specific
conditions.
The provisions of this agreement, however,
do not apply to Displaced Persons, Stateless
Persons and persecutees. Nor do they apply
to Berlin, where quadripartite passes are
still required.
The purpose of the agreement is to pro-
mote interzonal trade and commerce, to facil-
itate the travel of Germans in the interest of
Military Government and to allow travel on
compassionate grounds, but not to encourage
travel for recreational or pleasure purposes.
Present regulations on permanent change of
residence are not affected by its terms.
It provides that after 1 September the civ-
ilian travelers covered in the British and
US Zones need not obtain any pass or per-
mission to travel between the two zones.
They must, however, comply with all exist-
ing, regulations governing movement of prop-
erty and goods and with all censorship reg-
ulations.
The four conditions specified in the agree-
ment for these travelers are:
Each Control Authority concerned may
prohibit or prevent, at its discretion, the
entry into or departure from its respective
zones of occupation of any individual, and
restrictions on interzonal travel may be
specifically imposed on given categories
of persons.
Any person traveling between the zones
or in a zone of which he is not a resident
shall carry on his person the official doc-
ument required in the zone of his residence.
Such identity document shall be produced
on demand by any civil or military official.
Persons visiting another zone shall
comply with all ordinances and regulations
in force in that zone, particularly those
applicable to change of residence.
The agreement also provides that the
traveler's emergency food ration cards is-
sued in one zone will be accepted and honor-
ed in the other zone, and that persons engag-
ed in interzonal travel as authorized in the
agreement may purchase petroleum products
for their automobile vehicles, subject to ra-
tioning regulations of the zone or area being
visited.
At the same time, the agreement relaxes
travel restrictions for members of the Oc-
cupying Forces, Control Organizations and
Military Government of the British and US
Zones in that no prior clearance will be re-
quired for those travelers provided they
possess valid travel orders issued by their
own zone authority.
US-British Plan Explained
The proposed operation of the economic
cooperation between the British and US
Zones was explained by the British Deputy
Military Governor at the recent meeting in
Hamburg of the Zonal Advisory Council, a
group of outstanding German leaders who
assist the British authorities in the civil ad-
ministration in the British Zone.
Pointing out that the aim of the British
Government was still to seek economic unity
for Germany as a whole and then a political
fusion of all the zones into a new Germany,
he explained that the joint British-US plan
of administration would be set up for food
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