740.00115 European War 1939/7127
The Secretary of State to President Roosevelt
My Dear Mr. President: As you are aware, we have been negotiating with the Germans for the better part of a year in our effort to obtain the liberation of the diplomatic officers of this Government, our other citizens who have been assimilated into official groups such as newspapermen and relief workers, and the officials of the other American republics who were all seized by the Germans on French territory. The total number of such individuals is 266. We received in June a communication from the German Government demanding in exchange for these few individuals some thousands of Germans in this country and in other countries of this hemisphere. As I have informed you, we rejected the German proposal.
The German Government under date of July 28, 1943 has again approached us with an offer in which its demands are less exorbitant. Briefly it proposes to release our officials and the others if we release the 26 German officials captured in North Africa and all the German nationals from the other American republics who were brought to the United States from those republics in 1941 and 1942 with a view to their repatriation. After that our exchange agreement with Germany collapsed by the withdrawal of German safe conduct for further voyages of the exchange vessel over a route acceptable to us. According to the German figures, the number of Germans concerned in this demand is 900. According to our figures it is approximately 750. We would also have to repatriate those few former officials of the French Government and their families who may wish to return to Europe and the very small number of Italian nationals whose position corresponds to that of the German nationals in question.
The question of the repatriation of the non-official Germans covered by the latest demands of the German Government has been discussed in some detail with the investigative agencies. In February of this year we placed before them the names of 586 German nationals from the other American republics, who had indicated a desire to go back to Germany. The agencies agreed to the repatriation of 469 of these individuals, indicated that they did not favor but were not strongly opposed to the repatriation of 39 others and stated that they could not in any circumstances agree to the repatriation of 78. There have also been objections by the British Government to the repatriation of great numbers of these individuals, including many of those whose repatriation is approved by our own agencies.
I am impelled to place this matter before you because of the fact that the Department is in receipt of most confidential information, [Page 105] received from a source in which I have great confidence, leading us to believe that unless their demands are met the German authorities intend to hold as hostages for captured Germans whom we might prosecute under the war criminal procedure our officials and the officials of the other American republics whom they seized in France. It is my view that if we are to obtain the release of our officials before the time when we can actually liberate them by force of arms, we must do so on the basis of the present German proposal; otherwise negotiations regarding their release will probably continue indefinitely without favorable issue until the Germans are finally defeated. What the Germans might do to our officers in a final moment of desperation I am unable to say but the worst must be envisaged. They might even use them as a shield to prevent our bombing of military objectives.
I enclose for your signature, if you approve, letters to the Attorney General, the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy34 requesting them to report to you whether there is any insuperable reason why German nationals who have been made by the German Government the quid pro quo for the release of our officials should not be released if we find it necessary to repatriate any or all of them in exchange for our officials and assimilated nationals.
If our own agencies agree to give the Department of State a free hand in negotiating this exchange, we shall also have to get the British Government’s agreement.
While we hope that it will not be necessary to release the military members of the former German and Italian Armistice Commissions captured in North Africa, I feel it advisable that the Department of State have a free hand to use these people if necessary. In this connection I refer to your letter of June 17, 1943 to the Secretary of War.
Faithfully yours,
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