893.55J/4: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Germany (Gilbert)
32. Your 127, February 17, 1 p.m. The American Consul General at Shanghai reported early in January39 on the serious situation created there by the arrival of large numbers of destitute German refugees, principally on German and Italian vessels. We have taken the matter up with the President’s Advisory Committee and the Intergovernmental Committee in order that appropriate steps might be taken to discourage refugees from going to Shanghai. It is suggested that, in your discretion and after you have learned the German reaction to the British demarche, you mention informally to the German authorities the desirability of discouraging the travel of Jews to Shanghai on German vessels.