Function and purpose

This series consists of printed copies of correspondence of the Inter-Allied Reparation Agency, maintained by the Secondary Industries Division of the Department of Post-War Reconstruction and later the Division of Industrial Development.

The Inter-Allied Reparation Agency was formed under Part II of the Paris Agreement of 14 January 1946 known as the “Agreement on Reparation from Germany, on the Establishment of an Inter-Allied Reparation Agency and on the Restitution of Monetary Gold” and came into force for Australia on 25 February 1946. The functions of the Agency were defined under the Agreement as follows:

“A. The Agency shall allocate German reparation among the Signatory Governments in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement and of any other agreements from time to time in force among the Signatory Governments. For this purpose, the Agency shall be the medium through which the Signatory Governments receive information concerning, and express their wishes in regard to, items available as reparation.

B. The Agency shall deal with all questions relating to the restitution to a Signatory Government of property situated in one of the Western Zones of Germany which may be referred to it by the Commander of that Zone (acting on behalf of his Government), in agreement with the claimant Signatory Government or Governments, without prejudice, however, to the settlement of such questions by the Signatory Governments concerned either by agreement or arbitration.”

The internal organisation of the Agency was prescribed as follows:

“A. The organs of the Agency shall be the Assembly and the Secretariat.

B. The Assembly shall consist of the Delegates and shall be presided over by the President of the Agency. The President of the Agency shall be the Delegate of the Government of France.

C. The Secretariat shall be under the direction of a Secretary General, assisted by two Deputy Secretaries General. The Secretary General and the two Deputy Secretaries General shall be appointed by the Governments of France, the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The Secretariat shall be international in character. It shall act for the Agency and not for the individual Signatory Governments.”

Signatories to the Agreement included the Governments of Albania, the United States of America, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Greece, India, Luxembourg, Norway, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, the Union of South Africa and Yugoslavia.

Physical characteristics

The foolscap size papers are gathered together in bundles of an average thickness of about 6 cm, bound with string, containing a numerical range of records of the same kind (e.g. minutes, documents).

System of arrangement and control

The alphanumeric control number of each document indicates its origin and purpose. All control numbers begin with the abbreviation for the agency, i.e. IARA followed by a slash and then letters indicating the origin within the agency, e.g. “SG” for Secretary General, “AS” for Assembly. This is followed by another slash, then an abbreviation indicating the function of the records, e.g. “Min” for minutes, “Ag” for agenda, “Doc” for documents, followed by a full stop and a consecutive number indicating the position within each series of agenda, minutes, documents, etc.

Relationships with other records

Some of the records originally included inventories of plant and equipment destined for distribution, and a sample has been retained in this series under the control number IARA/AS/Doc.544, which includes a set of inventories relating to ACA Plant no.1. Other inventories originally transferred with these records are not endorsed with control numbers corresponding with this series, and have been registered separately as B6473, Inventories of plant and equipment, German reparations (including French Emergency Scheme), 1946.

Custodial history

The records were originally transferred into archival custody as MT42/1 by the Division of Industrial Development (CA 776) in 1951. 

Sources

Australian Treaty Series 1946 No 5, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra: Agreement on Reparation from Germany, on the Establishment of an Inter-Allied Reparation Agency and on the Restitution of Monetary Gold (Paris, 14 January 1946)

Series converted from

MT42/1 (part)