811.91261/142
Memorandum by the Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Davies ) of a Conversation With the Soviet People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs ( Litvinov ), March 14, 1938 31
Pursuant to an appointment made at my request, I had an extended conference with People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, M. Litvinov, at his office on the day and year first above written.
M. Litvinov spoke very frankly in connection with the views of this Government with reference to the incorporation of Austria into the German Reich. The following paraphrase of the cable immediately sent to the Department32 covers the substance of the interview with reference to this subject:
During the course of a conversation which I had with Litvinov today (March 14, 1938), he told me that the situation in Europe was critically dangerous; that the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs had been formally advised that Austria had been incorporated in the German Reich; that several days ago the Austrian Minister had left Moscow, and that the Legation would be practically closed following the departure of the Chargé d’Affaires. He said that he assumed that all countries having diplomatic representation in Vienna would now terminate such representation. Litvinov further stated that he believed that, as a result of the fact that English acquiescence was indicated by the Halifax and similar conversations, the Chamberlain Government was responsible for Austria’s predicament; that it was his opinion that Chamberlain would find it difficult, in view of developments, to make a satisfactory arrangement with Mussolini, since Hitler had in all probability agreed to give his support to Mussolini in Spain and the Mediterranean. Litvinov said that he believed that Czechoslovakia was secure for the present although such security was not permanent; that France because of her treaty33 would undoubtedly come to the aid of Czechoslovakia in case the latter should be attacked by Germany as “otherwise it would also be the end of France”; and that in such circumstances [Page 534] England “willy nilly” would be obliged to enter the conflict in order to aid France. He stated, in reply to my question, that the world very likely would witness another example of German aggressiveness before the end of the year and that there was a very definite possibility of war this summer.
I was advised today by the Czechoslovak Minister in Moscow that a few days ago his Government had received assurances from Germany that the latter had no hostile intent against Czechoslovakia; that military measures for immediate resistance were not being made by Czechoslovakia; and that actually this was a decision which would have to be made by England and France, not Czechoslovakia.
A member of my staff was informed this evening by the Austrian Chargé d’Affaires in Moscow that he may leave Moscow tomorrow enroute to Vienna for a week or two. In this event no diplomatic officer would be left in the Mission. Up to the present time, however, no definite decision as to his departure has been reached.
Unofficial Representations
The undersigned then stated to M. Litvinov that he desired to take up with him unofficially three situations in which possibly there was strictly no violation of the legal rights of American citizens, but which nevertheless were possibly prejudicial to the interests of American citizens in the Soviet Union.
Mr. Litvinov was informed that his personal attention was being called to these situations in a friendly way in the hope that they might be relieved. These situations were the following:
(a) The Case of Soviet Wives of American Husbands Desiring to Return to the United States. 34
It was pointed out that there were a number of cases where American citizens—engineers, professional men, and the like—residing temporarily in the Soviet Union had married Soviet wives and in some instances had children, and who were now desirous of or were required to leave the Soviet Union and return to the United States, and where [Page 535] these American citizens found it impossible to obtain permission from the Government for these wives and their children to leave the Soviet Union.
It was made plain that it was quite clear that under Soviet law, the Government was acting strictly within its rights in asserting its jurisdiction over Soviet citizens and preventing their departure from the Soviet Union but that nevertheless such a course did operate as a severe hardship upon normal human relations and had many cruel aspects. For this reason, I ventured to ask unofficially that the Foreign Office interest itself in the situation to see whether some relief could not be accorded. Specifically, the attention of M. Litvinov was called to the case of young Mr. [Edmund] Stevens, who has a wife and a baby child here and a widowed mother in New York and where, despite the urgent need of the son and the son’s desire to return to the United States, he cannot do so because his wife does not seem to be able to procure consent to the necessary relinquishment of Soviet citizenship and to leave the Soviet Union. The attention of Commissar Litvinov was called to the fact that last spring this specific case had been brought similarly to his attention and that the Embassy had been led to believe that, in the opinion of the Foreign Commissar, this situation could be cleared up and the necessary permission obtained. M. Litvinov stated that due to the pressure of other matters this specific situation had completely escaped his mind and that he did not even now recall it, but said that he would be glad to look into it and asked me to follow it up with a written memorandum to him. This has been done.
(b) The Case of the Arrests of Soviet Employees of the American Correspondents.
The attention of M. Litvinov was called to the fact that during the course of the recent Bukharin treason trial, a Soviet citizen who had been employed as a translator by Mr. Harold Denny, Chief of the New York Times Bureau for the last several years and who was taking notes of the trial proceedings, was arrested in the middle of the trial. This, he was told, was illustrative of what had previously happened to the secretary of Mr. Spencer Williams, head of the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce in Moscow, as well as to the secretary of Mr. James Brown, the International News Service correspondent; both secretaries having been arrested. This situation, I stated, causes a great deal of inconvenience to these American interests and also raised the possible implication that these employers had been a party to some violation of Soviet law. M. Litvinov replied that while none of these cases had been specifically called to his attention, and that he did not know positively what the facts were in each case, nevertheless, [Page 536] he was certain that if there had been any suggestion or any implication that any of these foreign employers had been connected with the criminal activity of their secretaries, respectively, he would have known of it and that, therefore, he would give me assurances that there was no implication as against these American citizens in these cases. He stated that the services of these people as employees of these various American interests were only a part of their activities in the community and that what had happened, undoubtedly, was that, apart from their duties to their immediate employers, they were engaged in unlawful activities on the outside. He also pointed out that in such a situation no distinction could be made as between American or Soviet employers of Soviet citizens who happened to have been engaged in unlawful activities, and were, therefore, subject to arrest. He pointed out that the fact of being employed by foreign nationals could not, of course, afford any immunity to Soviet citizens if they were guilty of a violation of Soviet law. He completely exonerated Messrs. Denny, Brown, and Williams, and their organizations from any implication of being a part of the alleged unlawful activities of their secretaries.
(c) The Office Quarters for the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce.
Last week I was advised by Mr. Stevens, who is here in charge of the office of the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce in Mr. Spencer Williams’ absence, that notice had been served that the Chamber would be required to vacate the premises immediately and that he had been unable to obtain any other quarters or any postponement of eviction until Mr. Williams got back. I pointed out the extreme inconvenience that this involved to the Chamber of Commerce, which represents a very responsible and influential section of the American public opinion. M. Litvinov pointed out that there was a tremendous shortage of space and that it was impossible to even accord the Diplomatic Corps the space necessary to their proper functioning. He stated, however, that he would look into the matter and asked me to give him details with reference to the situation.
- Transmitted to the Department by the Ambassador in his despatch No. 1037, March 16, 1938; received April 4.↩
- Telegram No. 69, March 14, 1938, 9 p.m., not printed.↩
- Treaty of Mutual Guarantee, signed at Locarno, October 16, 1925; for text, see British and Foreign State Papers, vol. cxxii, p. 287.↩
- The attempts of Soviet spouses of American citizens to obtain permission from the Soviet Government to accompany their mates to the United States, or to join them there if they had preceded, became a serious problem, the urgency of which increased in consequence of the attitude of the Soviet Government after 1937 toward the continued residence of foreigners in the Soviet Union. This situation resulted in repeated representations by the Embassy in Moscow on behalf of the Soviet spouses to the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs over a protracted period of time. The Embassy’s efforts were met with delays and inaction on the part of the competent Soviet authorities, with rare exceptions, previous to the arrival in Moscow in August 1939 of Ambassador Laurence A. Steinhardt. Following conversations and personal appeals by the Ambassador to the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, at that time Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, a certain improvement occurred in the granting of permissions to Soviet spouses of American citizens to quit the Soviet Union.↩