File No. 763.72114/3846
[Enclosure—Translation]
The German Foreign
Office to the Spanish Embassy at
Berlin
III a 16782
The Government of the United States of America, through the Spanish
Embassy in Berlin as intermediary, inquired of the German Government
whether they were prepared to enter into an agreement by which the
sanitary personnel of both sides, including sanitary officers, Red
Cross nurses, etc., which are at present in the hands of one of the
two states, or will in the future fall into their hands, are to be
repatriated by both sides. To this the following should be
noted:
The German Government as a matter of course holds the point of view
of the Geneva convention of July 6, 1906, as well as that of the
Hague convention of October 18, 1907, regarding the application of
the principles of the Geneva convention to naval warfare. They will
bring stipulations of these international agreements into execution
according to their letter, as well as according to their spirit,
towards the members of the sanitary personnel of the United States
of America, and look forward to a statement of this kind by the
Government of the United States.
According to article 9, paragraph 1, of the Geneva convention, the
members of the sanitary personnel there mentioned, who fall into the
enemy’s hands, may not be made prisoners of war; according to
article 12, they must be sent back to their army, or to their home
country as soon as their aid can be dispensed with. Article 10 of
the above-mentioned Hague convention contains similar stipulations
regarding the clerical, medical and hospital personnel of captured
vessels.
The German Government, therefore, proposes to the Government of the
United States of America the repatriation of all sanitary personnel
of army and of navy held by either state, or which will in future be
held by either state, on the following basis:
Persons comprised under the class of sanitary personnel, according to
articles 9 and 10, of the Geneva convention, to wit: doctors,
pharmacists, male nurses, stretcher bearers, chaplains, officers of
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sanitary administration,
members of recognized and authorized relief societies, as well as
doctors’ orderlies, administrative officers of the sanitary service,
and similar persons will be repatriated; in accordance with article
14 of the convention also, the officers and other convoy personnel
of movable sanitary formations, as well as the religious, medical
and hospital personnel of captured ships as stipulated in article 10
of the Hague convention regarding the application of the principles
of the Geneva convention to naval warfare.
Within the assumption that the Government of the United States of
America will agree to the preceding propositions, the German
Government expresses the expectation that the Government of the
United States of America will repatriate the sanitary personnel of
the crews of the interned German war vessels which have fallen into
its hands, and have been interned by them, as well as the sanitary
personnel of Tsing-Tau imprisoned by them at Hot Springs, North
Carolina, and that it will grant them a safe-conduct for their
return to Germany.
As regards the sanitary personnel of Tsing-Tau, it is pointed out
that the British Government in article 15 of an agreement, of which
a copy is enclosed,1 with the German Government regarding war and civil
prisoners, allows the return to Germany of the German sanitary
personnel originally belonging to the German garrison in Tsing-Tau,
and now in the United States of America, if the Government of the
United States will allow this personnel the return to Germany. A
roster of the German sanitary personnel of Tsing-Tau is
annexed.2
As soon as the Government of the United States of America shall have
accepted the above propositions and given its assurances for a
safe-conduct for the repatriation of the German sanitary personnel
to Germany, the German Government will allow the departure for
America of the American sanitary personnel held by it at this
time.
The German Government does this in the expectation that the
repatriated persons, after their return, shall by both sides be used
only for sanitary service and expects a statement on the part of the
American Government assenting to this proposal.
The German Government furthermore adds an exhibit of the official
position and pay of those who belong to the personnel described in
article 9, of the Geneva convention, in the German Army beginning
with the Surgeon General down.2 According to article 13 of the Geneva
convention, the rates of pay therein stated furnish the principles
for the remuneration of the American sanitary personnel which has
fallen into German hands. The German Government
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on its part looks forward to the
communication of a similar statement regarding the official position
and pay of American sanitary personnel.
Finally, the German Government proposes to the Government of the
United States to repatriate the doctors and clergymen held by both
sides, even if they do not belong to the military or naval sanitary
personnel, and, therefore, do not fall under the propositions of
articles 9 and 10 of the Geneva convention, or of article 10 of the
above-mentioned Hague convention. The American Government would have
to give assurances for the safe-conduct for the return to Germany of
the German personnel concerned. Such persons as would have to be
repatriated according to this stipulation would also be allowed to
be employed only in sanitary service after their return.
