File No. 703.5262/7
The Ambassador in Spain ( Willard) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6.20 p.m.]
403. Department’s 215, February 5, 5 p.m. Foreign Office states that it has given attention to Department’s wishes and communicated them to Spanish Ambassador, Berlin. The latter states that with this object in view he has centralized, at the Embassy and with the consuls of career, American interests, also with the Vice Consul at Düsseldorff who is a Spanish subject, granting the honorary consuls only limited authority for giving assistance when authorized and [Page 612] transmitting money. Spanish Ambassador also directed the military delegates who visit prison camps and who reside in chief German cities to get into touch with the American consuls and take charge of the archives, leaving protection of Americans in Munich to another Spanish subject who has been appointed consular agent there.
Minister of Foreign Affairs states that from the beginning, considering the difficulties, he has taken all necessary steps to satisfy the Department’s wishes and is now completing the necessary Spanish personnel at the Embassy in Berlin, and that he hopes within a short time to obtain results satisfactory to American Government.