File No. 763.72114/3911
The Swiss Chargé (
Hübscher) to the
Secretary of State
Department of German
Interests VIII–L–2
The Chargé d’Affaires a. i. of Switzerland,
representing German interests in the United States, presents his
compliments to the Secretary of State, and referring to his note of June
24, 1918,1 has the honor
to enclose copy of a note verbale of the German
Government, transmitted to this Legation by the Swiss Foreign Office,
regarding the protest against the internment in Fort La Cabaña, Havana,
of German subjects residing in Cuba.
The Chargé d’Affaires a. i. would esteem it a
great courtesy if His Excellency would be kind enough to inform him of
the decision taken in this matter.
Washington
, August 7, 1918.
[Received August 10.]
[Page 238]
[Enclosure—Translation]
The German Foreign
Office to the Swiss Legation at
Berlin
No. III C. 20576/86439
Note Verbale
It appears from a communication of the Spanish Legation at Havana
that the Cuban authorities for the time being are carrying out the
internment at the prison camp of Fort La Cabaña of the German
residents of Cuba.
The German Government entertains no doubt that the action of the
Cuban authorities against the German subjects living in Cuba is to
be traced back to a pressure exercised by the American Government
and that nothing but a mere expression of a wish from Washington
would be needed to bring to an end these forcible measures against
the Germans which the climatic conditions of the island only make
all the more trying.
The Foreign Office has the honor to apply to the Swiss Legation for
its good offices in having the Swiss Legation at Washington
instructed by cable to lodge with the American Government an
emphatic protest, based on the foregoing, against the disgraceful
treatment to which the Germans are subject in the island of Cuba and
to lay stress on the point that the German Government will hold the
Government of the United States of America responsible for all the
damages to life, health and property that the German subjects in
Cuba may suffer from the treatment they shall have to undergo.
