On 30 December 1948, two days after the London Conference, British cartoonist David Low illustrates the desire of the representatives of the United States, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to create the International Authority for the Ruhr (IAR) in order to control steel and coal production and the commercial practices of the Europe’s most industrialised region. From left to right: George Marshall, US Secretary of State, Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, and Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary.

In the French newspaper Le Monde, Maurice Duverge explains how France, by considering the Ruhr Statute as a transition from occupied Germany towards an independent Germany, is moving in the direction of European federalism.

On 20 October 1949, six months after the establishment of the International Authority for the Ruhr (IAR), the Allied High Commission for Germany promulgates the law on the privileges and immunities of the IAR.

In the debates in the Bundestag, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer declares himself in favour of Germany’s participation in the Ruhr Statute and recommends that a German representative be appointed.

As US High Commissioner in Germany from 1949 to 1952, John McCloy gives considerable support to the Schuman Plan. From left to right: Harry S. Truman, President of the United States, John McCloy and Dean Acheson, US Secretary of State, in discussion at the White House on 23 January 1950.

On 9 March 1950, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung lists the reasons for the discontent of the German population regarding the Ruhr Statute and outlines the role of the International Authority for the Ruhr (IAR).

In this discussion paper of 3 May 1950, Jean Monnet considers the compatibility between the international control of the Ruhr and the establishment of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

Law No 27, adopted by the Allied High Commission on 16 May 1950 in Bonn, relates to the reorganisation of the German coal and steel industries and regulates the system of ownership with the aim of prohibiting concentrations of economic power and industrial cartels.

‘Robert, where are you taking me?’ On 23 June 1950, following the proposals submitted by Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, for the establishment of a coal and steel pool in Europe, German cartoonist Peter Leger speculates on the future of the Ruhr Statute and the little ‘German Michel’, held prisoner and chained to his jailer Robert Schuman.

On 6 December 1951, Carl Friedrich Ophüls, Civil Administrator in the Federal Ministry of Justice, retraces the history of the International Authority for the Ruhr (IAR) from the time of its establishment in April 1949 to its dissolution upon the entry into force of the Schuman Plan for coal and steel.

Anonymous French note on the coexistence of the International Authority for the Ruhr and the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

On 17 January 1951, the French delegation to the Schuman Plan Conference speculates on the sustainability of the regime of ownership of the Ruhr mines and plants in the context of the future entry into force of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

On 13 April 1951, Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, Director-General of Economic and Financial Affairs at the High Commission of the French Republic in Germany, writes a letter to Alain Poher, French representative at the International Authority for the Ruhr (IAR), to inform him of the strong opposition from the German unions to the dissolution of the Deutscher Kohlenverkauf (DKV), the sole selling agency for Ruhr coal.

On 9 June 1951, Franz Grosse, Director of the German trade union Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau, outlines to Pierre Uri, French economic adviser at the National Planning Board, the decisions taken by the extraordinary assembly of German mining delegates concerning the reorganisation of the German coal sector.

On 28 June 1951, Albert Bureau, Director of the Iron and Steel Industry in the French Ministry of Industrial Production, drafts a report on the implications of the demerging of the German iron and steel industry in the Ruhr industrial basin.

On 20 August 1951, the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) submits its proposals relating to the future of the Deutsche Kohle-Verkaufs-Gesellschaft (DKV), the sole selling agency for Ruhr coal, which it would like to see changed rather than abolished.

On 19 October 1951, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States adopt a protocol in Paris which terminates the activities of the International Authority for the Ruhr.

On 6 November 1951, Guy Mollet, Secretary-General of the French Socialist Party (SFIO), is concerned about the Federal German Government’s decision to delay the dismantling of the selling agency of German coal from the Ruhr (DKV).

In late February 1952, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman is due to meet his British and American counterparts to discuss the future of Germany. In a memorandum sent to Mr Schuman two weeks earlier, Jean Monnet informs him of the progress made towards breaking up the Ruhr cartels.