File No. 763.72114/3999
The Minister in Switzerland (
Stovall) to the
Secretary of State
No. 4190
Berne,
August 16, 1918.
[Received September 10.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith copy
and translation of a note verbale from the German
Foreign Office to the Swiss Legation in Berlin, transmitted by the Royal
Spanish Embassy, Berlin, relative to photographs and fingerprints being
taken of German officers who are prisoners of war.
I have [etc.]
[Page 36]
[Enclosure—Translation]
The German Foreign
Office to the Swiss Legation at
Berlin
III b 25166./112464.
Note Verbale
The Foreign Office has the honor to inform the Swiss Legation in
answer to note verbale of April 19, that the
sentiments of Captain Zuckschwerdt, as stated
in his complaint to the Swiss Legation in Washington, are fully
shared here: that the orders of the American Government that all
prisoners shall be measured, photographed and their finger prints
taken, are humiliating not only for officers but for all other
prisoners of war and not in accord with the rules of the Hague
convention for the treatment of prisoners of war.
The Foreign Office requests the Swiss Legation to support the appeal
of Captain Zuckschwerdt to the American
Government and protest strongly against putting prisoners of war on
a footing with criminals, as in the case of the measurements and
photographs referred to.
It is also requested that the American Government be informed that if
this is not complied with, American prisoners in German hands or
those who, in future, shall fall into their hands, will be treated
in like manner and similar photographs and measurements taken.
