861.77 Chinese Eastern/431: Telegram
The Minister in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
943. Legation’s 915, October 21, 4 p.m. In a despatch dated October 19th on political conditions during September American Consul at Harbin comments as follows with regard to the internment camp for Soviet Russians:
“The camp was visited by the German Consul many times and by me, Vice Consul Lilliestrom, and American, Japanese and Chinese journalists at different times. Some of the prisoners are accused of real crimes, others are no doubt held as ‘suspects’, clearly proving [although the?] Chinese authorities now pretend that they are all accused of some definite crime in order to do away with the criticism that internment camps were only established in times of war and not in times of peace. Some weeks ago the superintendent of the camp told me that he had ordered stoves put in. Up to this writing this has not been done, and the prisoners must be suffering intensely, especially at night, when it is quite cold. A threatened hunger strike was started but called off on assurances of the German Consul that better treatment would be afforded. As mentioned before, besides cold, absence of bathhouses and lack of communication with the outside, the prisoners’ complaints are that they have no knowledge of what charges have been brought against them, if any, and of how long they must remain prisoners. I conclude that their condition is now worse than when I inspected the camp on October 2nd, 1929.
[Page 342]The fate of the 38 prisoners arrested during the raid on the Soviet Consulate General was mentioned in my telegram of October 16, 1929. (Legation’s 895 [896], October 17, 5 p.m.) A report on conditions in detail will soon follow.”
- Telegram in two sections.↩