Office of the Historian

361.1121 Nordeen, Hjalmar S./2: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Chargé in the Soviet Union (Henderson)

Washington, December 3, 1937—4 p.m.

187. Your 301, November 24, noon.56 In view of the circumstances under which Nordeen was granted Soviet citizenship,57 the Department, as indicated in its instruction of February 5, 1935,56 does not consider that he has expatriated himself. You are authorized in your discretion to approach the Soviet authorities in his behalf and, in case they are unwilling to permit his release and departure from the Soviet Union, to request information concerning the charges against him and permission for officers of the Embassy to interview him. As in the Hrinkevich case, it is not desired that you do anything to prejudice the possibility that he may be deported rather than sentenced to imprisonment.

Hull
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. Nordeen had applied at the Embassy on December 26, 1934, for a passport for return to the United States, when he alleged that “he was forced into applying for and accepting Soviet citizenship” after his arrival during May 1933. The Department of State held that he had not voluntarily acquired Soviet citizenship, and on February 5, 1935, authorized issuance of a passport valid only for return to the United States. On April 24, 1935, Nordeen began his unsuccessful attempts to renounce Soviet citizenship. His wife, an American citizen, was refused an extension of her Soviet residence permit and was forced to leave on May 13, 1937. She later returned to the United States. Nordeen was arrested in Moscow on November 21, 1937. (361.1121 Nordeen, Hjalmar S./3, 4.)↩
  3. Not printed.↩