740.00115 European War 1939/7127
The Secretary of State to the Swiss Chargé (Feer)37
Memorandum
The Secretary of State acknowledges the receipt of the memorandum of July 28, 1943, Ref. No. VIII–F–1, from the Legation of Switzerland in charge of German and French interests, referring to the Department of State’s memorandum of July 7 and to preceding correspondence concerning the proposed repatriation of officials and assimilated categories of nationals of the United States and other American republics and transmitting a new communication on the subject from the German Government.
The new communication of the German Government has been carefully examined by the Department of State and it now appears that an exchange can be effected on the following basis:
In return for the release for repatriation of the American official groups at Baden Baden and Gödesberg including all persons even though elsewhere resident or detained who should be assimilated to these groups totaling about 270 persons (a list of whom is attached),38 the United States Government will release for repatriation the 25 German officials from Algeria now at Ingleside, the 17 members of the French official group at Hershey who wish to return to France and all the German nationals from the other American republics who [Page 108] were brought to the United States before July 1942 with a view to repatriation with the exception of 201 individuals who have communicated to the United States Government their unwillingness to be repatriated and 37 individuals who are not available for repatriation. A list of those available for repatriation is enclosed.40
If the German Government is agreeable to an exchange in accordance with the principles set forth above, it is expected that the exchange can forthwith proceed subject only to settlement of the matter dealt with in the following two paragraphs.
All the Germans from Panama who are detained in the United States are present in this country by virtue of a special agreement between the United States and Panamanian Governments whereby they are kept here as internees in behalf of the Panamanian Government which retains the right to determine their disposition. The United States Government requested the Panamanian Government to agree to the repatriation of the 64 Germans from Panama named in the attached list and the Panamanian Government replied that having no other German nationals to offer in exchange for its own nationals it will consent to the repatriation of these Germans only if it receives satisfactory assurances that the German Government will simultaneously permit the repatriation of any of the Panamanians in areas under the control of the German Government who may wish repatriation. A partial list of such Panamanians is attached.40
It is believed from the Swiss Legation’s note of December 28, 194240 that the German Government is willing to repatriate the nonofficial Panamanian nationals now under its control. However, if the German Government prefers, the United States Government is willing that the question of the repatriation of the Germans from Panama now in the United States and of the Panamanian nationals in German hands be made the subject of separate negotiations between the German and Panamanian Governments apart from the present exchange.
It is the desire of the United States Government that the exchange of officials shall forthwith proceed no matter which solution of the problem regarding the Germans from Panama is adopted by the German Government.