Looking Toward Home

Abstract

After Blackett’s visit, the Germans were sure they were about to go home. They did not, at least for four months. The Council of Foreign Ministers, established by the Potsdam Accords to oversee occupation policies and to formulate peace treaties with the former Axis powers, met for the first time in London beginning on September 20. Apparently a special session of the Council (or part of a session) was scheduled for September 20 to decide the scientists’ fate and other matters. The special session did not take place, for the two meetings held that day to formulate peace treaties for Finland and Romania broke up without agreement. Captain Brodie traveled to London the next day to see what had happened. When he returned, he informed the detainees, almost in passing, that no decision had been made.* When the news of this delay began to register, the situation, as the following report shows, grew very tense.