740.00115 European War 1939/7874
The Secretary of State to the Swiss Minister (Bruggmann)47
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Honorable the Minister of Switzerland in charge of German and certain French interests in the United States and has the honor to make the following reply to the Legation’s note of December 9, 1943 in reference to the Secretary’s note of September 25 concerning the proposed exchange of certain persons between the United States and Germany.
From an examination of the Legation’s note it would appear that agreement has now been reached between the Government of the United States and the German Government in all important respects to such an extent that definite arrangements for the contemplated exchange may now safely be made by both Governments concerned.
In return for the delivery in Portugal for repatriation of the American official groups at Baden Baden and Gödesberg, including the Brazilian officials, listed in the enclosure with the Secretary’s note of September 25 numbering in all 271 persons, the United States Government will deliver in Portugal for repatriation the 26 German officials from Algeria now at Ingleside, the former German Honorary Consul at Bari, Friedrich Thiesson and his wife, the 687 German nationals already named by the United States Government or substitutes therefor as suggested by the German Government in the case of any of these individuals who decline the opportunity of repatriation, and those members of the French official group now at Cascades Inn, Hot Springs, Virginia who wish to return to France.
In consideration of the inclusion of the Brazilian officials in the exchange, the United States Government further agrees to accord its safe conduct for the repatriation to a neutral European port of 132 German nationals in Brazil which the Brazilian Government [Page 116] has informed the United States Government is the extent of its commitment to the German Government to which the latter refers in the Swiss Legation’s note under acknowledgment. The United States Government has already granted its safe conduct to 83 of these individuals and has informed the Brazilian Government of its willingness to grant safe conduct to an additional 49 individuals to be selected by the Brazilian Government in consultation with the Government of the United States, making 132 in all.
As the German Government has already been informed, the United States Government can perceive no analogy between the German Government’s request for the repatriation of Mrs. Lina Graff, Dr. Ernest Kholschuetter and Professor Adolf Kappus, persons of no official status, and the American Government’s request for the repatriation of Carmel Joseph Doublet, William Frank Doublet, and Mohy Eddine Jeneid, who were members of the official staff of the United States Consulate at Tunis and as such are automatically includable in the official exchange as in the case of Friedrich Thiesson and wife. The United States Government must therefore insist upon the inclusion in the exchange of the three official employees above-mentioned without any engagement on its part to include in the exchange the three non-official Germans above-mentioned. The United States Government is, however, examining the possibility of extending to the three non-official Germans an opportunity to be included in the exchange if they wish to be repatriated.
The United States Government is likewise willing, as requested by the German Government, to offer within the framework of the exchange an opportunity of repatriation for humane reasons to certain other German nationals among those detained in the United States, particularly from Costa Rica and Guatemala, the members of whose families have already been repatriated to Germany.
As the Swiss Legation has already informed the Department that former French Vice Consul Priaulet’s condition of health cannot permit of his repatriation, it is requested that the German Government be so informed so that his exclusion from the exchange may not serve as a pretext for delay.
The Government of the United States notes the German Government’s agreement to the departure, together with the diplomatic group at Baden Baden and Gödesberg of the Panamanian nationals who are in the area under German control and who are willing to return.
Since the German Government has stated that if the United States Government concurs with the German Government’s wishes as set forth in the Swiss Legation’s note under acknowledgment and since the United States Government believes that its reply meets the German Government’s conditions in all important respects, the Government [Page 117] of the United States is proceeding to make preliminary arrangements for the early embarkation of the persons which it has agreed to deliver in Portugal. It would be appreciated if the Swiss Government would urgently confirm that the German Government is also in agreement on the above and is proceeding with arrangements to deliver in Portugal the persons agreed upon. It is understood that upon arrival on Portuguese territory of the persons to be exchanged the actual exchange will take place in Portugal under the guarantee of the Portuguese Government as soon as the Portuguese Government receives from the Government of the United States and German Government assurances that each has complied with the exchange agreement.
- The text of this note was transmitted by the Department to the Minister in Switzerland in telegram No. 3169, December 18.↩