800.00B Rubens, Adolph A./40
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 31.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s telegram No. 2 of January 6, 5 p.m., directing that the Embassy make inquiry regarding the welfare of Mrs. Ruth Marie Rubens, an American citizen, who was arrested in Moscow during December, 1937.
On January 7 I addressed a communication to Mr. A. A. Rosh, Acting Director of the Third Western Political Division of the Peopie’s [Page 906] Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, requesting information regarding Mrs. Rubens’ state of health and general welfare, and also regarding the status of the judicial proceedings against her. Having received no reply to my communication, I called on Mr. Rosh at the Commissariat on January 20 and orally requested the desired information. Mr. Rosh assured me the [that] “something” would be done. During the course of a call on Mr. Litvinoff, People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, on February 8 I emphasized the importance of Mrs. Rubens’ case and requested orally that the desired information be furnished the Embassy. In addition to my representations, above-mentioned, one of the secretaries of the Embassy has made repeated inquiries of Mr. Vinogradov, an official in the Third Western Political Division of the Commissariat, for the information requested by me on January 7, as well as for information regarding the execution of a power of attorney by Mrs. Rubens28 and the examination of the “Robinson” passports, but in each instance Mr. Vinogradov has replied to the effect that the Commissariat has no information in the matter. Mr. Vinogradov stated yesterday that the Commissariat does not even know whether Mrs. Rubens is in Moscow or not.
I need not assure the Department that the Embassy will not fail to urge the Foreign Office to reply to its representations on this case at every opportunity, based on the Department’s instructions, but unless the present obstructionist attitude on the part of the Soviet authorities undergoes an alteration there is no reason to believe that those representations will elicit a reply in the premises.
Respectfully yours,
- The power of attorney was to enable family members to dispose of some possessions of Mrs. Rubens within the United States.↩