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    "id": "134406021",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Minutes of Meeting of Foreign Secretaries",
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    "collections": [
        "Records of the Naval Aide to the President (Truman Administration)",
        "Berlin Conference Files"
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        "Potsdam Conference, 1945"
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    "ocrText": "-5-\ndestroyed by the Russian Army and by the American Army. They\ndid a tremendous job. I do not know Mr . Pauley's view of the\nfigures. But if he told me the figures had not been altered\nby events, I would not have a good opinion of his judgment. No\nopinion was expressed at Yalta. Twenty billion dollars suggested\nfor the whole of Germany, including Silesia. Since then there\nhas been a great dispute as to what is war booty and what is\nwar reparations. Mr. Pauley and Mr. Clayton tell me that in\nthe American zone in Berlin they saw a plant of the I.T. and I.\nstripped of all machinery and four other plants were stripped,\nrayon plant, Zeiss plant, and others. when Mr. Pauley said\ncircumstances made it impossible under these conditions to tell\nwhat reparations are available in Germany, it was certainly the\nunderstanding of the American delegation that such plants would\nbe available for reparations. It is difficult to reconcile the\nviews of our representatives and the Soviets on the reparations\ncommission. I want to see an agreement but I do not see how\nthey can reach one.\nMOLOTOV: Perhaps the American delegation can suggest a\ndifferent basis.\nBYRNES: I understand that the American delegation has.\nI think it important to find another plan. We do not want a\nplan which will cause constant friction between us.\nMOLOTOV: My inderstanding, Secretary Byrnes, is that you\nhave in mind the proposal that each country should take repara-\ntions from its own zone. If we fail to reach an agreement the\nresult will be the same.\nBYRNES: Yes. As I stated, the United States is not seek-\ning reparations. We would not trouble in agreeing on what we\nTRUMAN\nwant for ours. We assert our claim because we have to look\nafter others, Belgium, Holland, Yugoslavia. We have already\nI\nsent five hundred million dollars to Italy. We must send more\nSERVICE\"\nto France. We are trying to do the best we can in a very com- of\nplicated situation.\nwhat impresses me is that more important than the money\ninvolved is the removal of the source of irritation between our\ntwo governments so that we may work together.\nMOLOTOV: I understand.\nBYRNES: Our instructions to the Army were not to remove\nfactories. Only one or two experimental or models were re-\nmoved from our zone.\nMOLOTOV: Neither United States nor Great Britain was\noccupied. Our plants were laid waste. We think that our right\nto reparations inalienable. The United States'and Great Britain's\nposition morally is entirely different. Countries which were\noccupied have a right to reparations. Perhaps certain plants"
}