File No. 701.6211/372
The Ambassador in Germany (Gerard) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 13, 8 p. m.]
3882. Your 2988. Rooms of former British Consulate were occupied by verbal permission of Foreign Office for relief work for British. Usually some British subjects employed in distributing relief were there. On the night of October 7, 1914, Harvey2 happened to go there with one of the British clerks. On arriving, found crowd at door. British clerk immediately arrested by detectives. Police were in outer rooms. Porter’s wife gave keys to inner rooms to Harvey. Whether police had been in inner rooms I do not know. Detectives told Harvey they were sent by Foreign Office. Harvey refused to allow detectives to enter inner rooms although they tried. Next morning I went to place with Harvey. Detectives said they had not gone in inner rooms during the night, although so ordered by Foreign [Page 821] Office, because Harvey had taken keys. They said raid was by order of Foreign Office. We do not know what papers were taken, as the British clerks employed were put in solitary confinement for months, but finally sent to Ruhleben, from where one exchanged to England. Later Zimmermann claimed the Marine Department had participated in the raid and begged me to drop the matter, expressing regret. Later in order to obtain a record I sent the following note verbale to the Foreign Office:
With reference to the police raid on the premises of the former British Consulate General on the Margaret Henzstrasse in Berlin, occupied by the Embassy and [used] for British relief by permission of the Imperial Foreign Office, on the night of October 7, 1914, in which certain members of the relief committee, accountants, etc., were arrested, the American Ambassador was informed by Mr. Zimmermann of the Imperial Foreign Office at that time that this raid was the joint enterprise of the police and the Marineamt. Unfortunately great trouble has been thereby caused the American Embassy in making up the accounts for the moneys expended by the American Embassy on behalf of the British Government for British relief, and the American Embassy therefore has the honor to request the Imperial Foreign Office to ask both the police and the Marineamt whether any papers bearing on the question of British relief such as accounts, books, letters, vouchers, etc., were taken away at that time, and if perfectly proper, to request that such books or papers or copies of the same be returned to the American Embassy in order that the Embassy may complete its accounts for these moneys received from the British Government for the relief of its subjects in Germany.
Berlin , December 18, 1914 .
This note verbale was never answered.
- Secretary of the Embassy.↩