Section V.
ALSACE-LORRAINE.
The High Contracting Parties, recognizing the moral obligation to redress the wrong done by Germany in 1871 both to the rights of France and to the wishes of the population of Alsace and Lorraine, which were separated from their country in spite of the solemn protest of their representatives at the Assembly of Bordeaux,
Agree upon the following Articles:
Article 51.
The territories which were ceded to Germany in accordance with the Preliminaries of Peace signed at Versailles on February 26, 1871, and the Treaty of Frankfort of May 10, 1871, are restored to French sovereignty as from the date of the Armistice of November 11, 1918.
The provisions of the Treaties establishing the delimitation of the frontiers before 1871 shall be restored.
Article 52.
The German Government shall hand over without delay to the French Government all archives, registers, plans, titles and documents of every kind concerning the civil, military, financial, judicial or other administrations of the territories restored to French sovereignty. If any of these documents, archives, registers, titles or plans have been misplaced, they will be restored by the German Government on the demand of the French Government.
Article 53.
Separate agreements shall be made between France and Germany dealing with the interests of the inhabitants of the territories referred to in Article 51, particularly as regards their civil rights, their business and the exercise of their professions, it being understood that Germany undertakes as from the present date to recognize and accept the regulations laid down in the Annex hereto regarding the nationality of the inhabitants or natives of the said territories, not to claim at any time or in any place whatsoever as German nationals those who shall have heen declared on any ground to he French, to receive all others in her territory, and to conform, as regards the property of German nationals in the territories indicated in Article 51, with the provisions of Article 297 and the Annex to Section IV of Part X (Economic Clauses) of the present Treaty.
Those German nationals who without acquiring French nationality shall receive permission from the French Government to reside in the said territories shall not be subjected to the provisions of the said Article.
Article 54.
Those persons who have regained French nationality in virtue of paragraph 1 of the Annex hereto will be held to be Alsace-Lorrainers for the purposes of the present Section.
The persons referred to in paragraph 2 of the said Annex will from the day on which they have claimed French nationality be held to be Alsace-Lorrainers with retroactive effect as from November 11, 1918. For those whose application is rejected, the privilege will terminate at the date of the refusal.
Such juridical persons will also have the status of Alsace-Lorrainers as shall have been recognised as possessing this quality, whether by the French administrative authorities or by a judicial decision.
Article 55.
The territories referred to in Article 51 shall return to France free and quit of all public debts under the conditions laid down in Articles 255 of Part IX (Financial Clauses) of the present Treaty.
Article 56.
In conformity with the provisions of Article 256 of Part IX (Financial Clauses) of the present Treaty, France shall enter into possession of all property and estate, within the territories referred to in Article 51, which belong to the German Empire or German States, without any payment or credit on this account to any of the States ceding the territories.
This provision applies to all movable or immovable property of public or private domain together with all rights whatsoever belonging to the German Empire or German States or to their administrative areas.
Crown property and the property of the former Emperor or other German sovereigns, shall be assimilated to property of the public domain.
Article 57.
Germany shall not take any action, either by means of stamping or by any other legal or administrative measures not applying equally to the rest of her territory, which may be to the detriment of the legal value or redeemability of German monetary instruments or monies which, at the date of the signature of the present Treaty, are legally current, and at that date are in the possession of the French Government.
Article 58.
A special Convention will determine the conditions for repayment in marks of the exceptional war expenditure advanced during the course of the war by Alsace-Lorraine or by public bodies in Alsace-Lorraine on account of the Empire in accordance with German law, such as payment to the families of persons mobilised, requisitions, billeting of troops, and assistance to persons who have been evacuated.
In fixing the amount of these sums Germany shall be credited with that portion which Alsace-Lorraine would have contributed to the Empire to meet the expenses resulting from these payments, this contribution being calculated according to the proportion of the Imperial revenues derived from Alsace-Lorraine in 1913.
Article 59.
Article 60.
The German Government shall without delay restore to Alsace-Lorrainers (individuals, juridical persons and public institutions) all property, rights and interests belonging to them on November 11, 1918, in so far as these are situated in German territory.
Article 61.
The German Government undertakes to continue and complete without delay the execution of the financial clauses regarding Alsace-Lorraine contained in the Armistice Conventions.
Article 62.
The German Government undertakes to bear the expense of all civil and military pensions which had been earned in Alsace-Lorraine on date of November 11, 1918, and the maintenance of which was a charge on the budget of the German Empire.
The German Government shall furnish each year the funds necessary for the payment in francs, at the average rate of exchange for that year, of the sums in marks to which persons resident in Alsace-Lorraine would have been entitled if Alsace-Lorraine had remained under German jurisdiction.
Article 63.
For the purposes of the obligation assumed by Germany in Part VIII (Reparation) of the present Treaty to give compensation for damages caused to the civil populations of the Allied and Associated countries in the form of fines, the inhabitants of the territories referred to in Article 51 shall be assimilated to the above-mentioned populations.
Article 64.
Article 65.
Within a period of three weeks after the coming into force of the present Treaty, the port of Strasburg and the port of Kehl shall he constituted, for a period of seven years, a single unit from the point of view of exploitation.
The administration of this single unit will be carried on by a manager named by the Central Rhine Commission, which shall also have power to remove him.
This manager shall be of French nationality.
He will reside in Strasburg and will be subject to the supervision of the Central Rhine Commission.
There will be established in the two ports free zones in conformity with Part XII (Ports, Waterways and Raihways) of the present Treaty.
A special Convention between France and Germany, which shall be submitted to the approval of the Central Rhine Commission, will fix the details of this organisation, particularly as regards finance.
It is understood that for the purpose of the present Article the port of Kehl includes the whole of the area necessary for the movements of the port and the trains which serve it, including the harbour, quays and railroads, platforms, cranes, sheds and warehouses, silos, elevators and hydro-electric plants, which make up the equipment of the port.
The German Government undertakes to carry out all measures which shall be required of it in order to assure that all the making-up and switching of trains arriving at or departing from Kehl, whether for the right bank or the left bank of the Rhine, shall be carried on in the best conditions possible.
All property rights shall be safeguarded. In particular the administration of the ports shall not prejudice any property rights of the French or Baden railroads.
Equality of treatment as respects traffic shall be assured in both ports to the nationals, vessels and goods of every country.
In case at the end of the sixth year France shall consider that the progress made in the improvement of the port of Strasburg still requires a prolongation of this temporary régime, she may ask for such prolongation from the Central Rhine Commission, which may grant an extension for a period not exceeding three years.
Throughout the whole period of any such extension the free zones above provided for shall be maintained.
Pending appointment of the first manager by the Central Rhine Commission a provisional manager who shall be of French nationality may be appointed by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers subject to the foregoing provisions.
For all purposes of the present Article the Central Rhine Commission will decide by a majority of votes.
Article 66.
The railway and other bridges across the Rhine now existing within the limits of Alsace-Lorraine shall, as to all their parts and their whole length, be the property of the French State, which shall ensure their upkeep.
Article 67.
The French Government is substituted in all the rights of the German Empire over all the railways which were administered by the Imperial railway administration and which are actually working or under construction.
The same shall apply to the rights of the Empire with regard to railway and tramway concessions within the territories referred to in Article 51.
This substitution shall not entail any paymnent on the part of the French State.
The frontier railway stations shall be established by a subsequent agreement, it being stipulated in advance that on the Rhine frontier they shall be situated on the right bank.
Article 68.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 268 of Chapter I of Section I of Part X (Economic Clauses) of the present Treaty, for a period of five years from the coming into force of the present Treaty, natural or manufactured products originating in and coming from the territories referred to in Article 51 shall, on importation into German customs territory, be exempt from all customs duty.
The French Government may fix each year, by decree communicated to the German Government, the nature and amount of the products which shall enjoy this exemption.
The amount of each product which may be thus sent annually into Germany shall not exceed the average of the amounts sent annually in the years 1911–1913.
Further, during the period of five years above mentioned, the German Government shall allow the free export from Germany and the free re-importation into Germany, exempt from all customs duties and other charges (including internal charges), of yarns, tissues, and other textile materials or textile products of any kind and in any condition, sent from Germany into the territories referred to in Article 51, to be subjected there to any finishing process, such as bleaching, dyeing, printing, mercerisation, gassing, twisting or dressing.
Article 69.
During a period of ten years from the coming into force of the present Treaty, central electric supply works situated in German territory and formerly furnishing electric power to the territories referred to in Article 51 or to any establishment the working of which passes permanently or temporarily from Germany to France, shall be required to continue such supply up to the amount of consumption corresponding to the undertakings and contracts current on November 11, 1918.
Such supply shall be furnished according to the contracts in force and at a rate which shall not be higher than that paid to the said works by German nationals.
Article 70.
It is understood that the French Government preserves its right to prohibit in the future in the territories referred to in Article 51 all new German participation:
(1) In the management or exploitation of the public domain and of public services, such as railways, navigable waterways, water works, gas works, electric power, etc.;
(2) In the ownership of mines and quarries of every kind and in enterprises connected therewith;
(3) In metallurgical establishments, even though their working may not be connected with that of any mine.
Article 71.
As regards the territories referred to in Article 51, Germany renounces on behalf of herself and her nationals as from November 11, 1918, all rights under the law of May 25, 1910, regarding the trade in potash salts, and generally under any stipulations for the intervention of German organisations in the working of the potash mines. Similarly, she renounces on behalf of herself and her nationals all rights under any agreements, stipulations or laws which may exist to her benefit with regard to other products of the aforesaid territories.
Article 72.
The settlement of the questions relating to debts contracted before November 11, 1918, between the German Empire and the German States or their nationals residing in Germany on the one part and Alsace-Lorrainers residing in Alsace-Lorraine on the other part shall be effected in accordance with the provisions of Section III of Part X (Economic Clauses) of the present Treaty, the expression “before the war” therein being replaced by the expression “before November 11, 1918”. The rate of exchange applicable in the case of such settlement shall be the average rate quoted on the Geneva Exchange during the month preceding November 11, 1918.
There may be established in the territories referred to in Article 51, for the settlement of the aforesaid debts under the conditions laid down in Section III of Part X (Economic Clauses) of the present Treaty, a special clearing office, it being understood that this office shall be regarded as a “central office” under the provisions of paragraph 1 of the Annex to the said Section.
Article 73.
Article 74.
The French Government reserves the right to retain and liquidate all the property, rights and interests which German nationals or societies controlled by Germany possessed in the territories referred to in Article 51 on November 11, 1918, subject to the conditions laid down in the last paragraph of Article 53 above.
Germany will directly compensate her nationals who may have been dispossessed by the aforesaid liquidations.
The product of these liquidations shall be applied in accordance with the stipulations of Sections III and IV of Part X (Economic Clauses) of the present Treaty.
Article 75.
Notwithstanding the stipulations of Section V of Part X (Economic Clauses) of the present Treaty, all contracts made before the date of the promulgation in Alsace-Lorraine of the French decree of November 30, 1918, between Alsace-Lorrainers (whether individuals or juridical persons) or others resident in Alsace-Lorraine on the one part and the German Empire or German States and their nationals resident in Germany on the other part, the execution of which has been suspended by the Armistice or by subsequent French legislation, shall be maintained.
Nevertheless, any contract of which the French Government shall notify the cancellation to Germany in the general interest within a period of six months from the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty, shall be annulled except in respect of any debt or other pecuniary obligation arising out of any act done or money paid thereunder before November 11, 1918. If this dissolution would cause one of the parties substantial prejudice, equitable compensation, calculated solely on the capital employed without taking account of loss of profits, shall be accorded to the prejudiced party.
With regard to prescriptions, limitations and forfeitures in Alsace- Lorraine, the provisions of Articles 300 and 301 of Section V of Part X (Economic Clauses) shall be applied with the substitution for the expression “outbreak of war” of the expression “November 11, 1918”, and for the expression “duration of the war” of the expression “period from November 11, 1918, to the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty”.
Article 76.
Questions concerning rights in industrial, literary or artistic property of Alsace-Lorrainers shall be regulated in accordance with the general stipulations of Section VII of Part X (Economic Clauses) of the present Treaty, it being understood that Alsace-Lorrainers holding rights of this nature under German legislation will preserve full and entire enjoyment of those rights on German territory.
Article 77.
The German Government undertakes to pay over to the French Government such proportion of all reserves accumulated by the Empire or by public or private bodies dependent upon it, for the purposes of disability and old age insurance, as would fall to the disability and old age insurance fund at Strasburg.
The same shall apply in respect of the capital and reserves accumulated in Germany falling legitimately to other social insurance funds, to miners’ superannuation funds, to the fund of the railways of Alsace-Lorraine, to other superannuation organisations established for the benefit of the personnel of public administrations and institutions operating in Alsace-Lorraine, and also in respect of the capital and reserves due by the insurance fund of private employees at Berlin, by reason of engagements entered into for the benefit of insured persons of that category resident in Alsace-Lorraine.
A special Convention shall determine the conditions and procedure of these transfers.
Article 78.
With regard to the execution of judgments, appeals and prosecutions, the following rules shall be applied:
(1) All civil and commercial judgments which shall have been given since August 3, 1914, by the Courts of Alsace-Lorraine between Alsace-Lorrainers, or between Alsace-Lorrainers and foreigners, or between foreigners, and which shall not have been appealed from before November 11, 1918, shall be regarded as final and susceptible of inmiediate execution without further formality.
When the judgment has been given between Alsace-Lorrainers and Gennans or between Alsace-Lorrainers and subjects of the allies of Germany, it shall only be capable of execution after the issue of an exequatur by the corresponding new tribunal in the restored territory referred to in Article 51.
(2) All judgments given by Gennan Courts since August 3, 1914, against Alsace-Lorrainers for political crimes or misdemeanours shall be regarded as null and void.
(3) All sentences passed since November 11, 1918, by the Court of the Empire at Leipzig on appeals against the decisions of the Courts of Alsace-Lorraine shall be regarded as null and void and shall be so pronounced. The papers in regard to the cases in which such sentences have been given shall be returned to the Courts of Alsace-Lorraine concerned.
All appeals to the Court of the Empire against decisions of the Courts of Alsace-Lorraine shall be suspended. The papers shall be returned under the aforesaid conditions for transfer without delay to the French Cour de Cassation, which shall be competent to decide them.
(4) All prosecutions in Alsace-Lorraine for offences committed during the period between November 11, 1918, and the coming into force of the present Treaty will be conducted under German law except in so far as this has been modified by decrees duly published on the spot by the French authorities.
(5) All other questions as to competence, procedure or administration of justice shall be determined by a special Convention between France and Germany.
Article 79.
The stipulations as to nationality contained in the Annex hereto shall be considered as of equal force with the provisions of the present Section.
All other questions concerning Alsace-Lorraine which are not regarded by the present Section and the Annex thereto or by the general provisions of the present Treaty will form the subject of further conventions between France and Germany. ANNEX.
1.
As from November 11, 1918, the following persons are ipso facto reinstated in French nationality:
(1) Persons who lost French nationality by the application of the Franco-German Treaty of May 10, 1871, and who have not since that date acquired any nationality other than German;
(2) The legitimate or natural descendants of the persons referred to in the immediately preceding paragraph, with the exception of those whose ascendants in the paternal line include a German who migrated into Alsace-Lorraine after July 15, 1870:
(3) All persons born in Alsace-Lorraine of unknown parents, or whose nationality is unknown.
2.
Within the period of one year from the coming into force of the present Treaty, persons included in any of the following categories may claim French nationality:
(1) All persons not restored to French nationality under paragraph 1 above, whose ascendants include a Frenchman or Frenchwoman who lost French nationality under the conditions referred to in the said paragraph;
(2) All foreigners, not nationals of a German State, who acquired the status of a citizen of Alsace-Lorraine before August 3, 1914;
(3) All Germans domiciled in Alsace-Lorraine, if they have been so domiciled since a date previous to July 15, 1870, or if one of their ascendants was at that date domiciled in Alsace-Lorraine;
(4) All Germans born or domiciled in Alsace-Lorraine who have served in the Allied or Associated armies during the present war, and their descendants;
(5) All persons born in Alsace-Lorraine before May 10, 1871, of foreign parents, and the descendants of such persons;
(6) The husband or wife of any person whose French nationality may have been restored under paragraph 1, or who may have claimed and obtained French nationality in accordance with the preceding provisions.
Except in the cases provided for in No. (6) of the present paragraph, the French authorities reserve to themselves the right, in individual cases, to reject the claim to French nationality.
3.
Subject to the provisions of paragraph 2, Germans born or domiciled in Alsace-Lorraine shall not acquire French nationality by reason of the restoration of Alsace-Lorraine to France, even though they may have the status of citizens of Alsace-Lorraine.
They may acquire French nationality only by naturalisation, on condition of having been domiciled in Alsace-Lorraine from a date previous to August 3, 1914, and of submitting proof of unbroken residence within the restored territory for a period of three years from November 11, 1918.
France will be solely responsible for their diplomatic and consular protection from the date of their application for French naturalisation.
4.
The French Government shall determine the procedure by which reinstatement in French nationality as of right shall be effected, and the conditions under which decisions shall be given upon claims to such nationality and applications for naturalisation, as provided by the present Annex.