800.00B Rubens, Adolph A./56: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Grummon) to the Secretary of State
321. I discussed the Rubens case with Potemkin today by appointment and after outlining the assistance which the Embassy had in vain attempted to obtain from officials of the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs with regard to Mrs. Rubens’ whereabouts, handed him the note authorized in the Department’s 65, June 15, 6 p.m. After reading the note twice very carefully he said he felt that it was a very formal method of handling the case; that although perhaps his subordinates had done everything possible under the circumstances nevertheless they were only subordinates and he regretted that I had not taken up the matter directly with him. I indicated that with no expectation of difficulty or delay in seeing Mrs. Rubens I had hitherto purposely refrained from taking the matter up with him precisely in order to avoid putting it on a formal basis. He then promised to interest himself personally in expediting the matter, said he would bring pressure to bear on the competent authorities, promised me an answer within 2 or 3 days and inquired whether under the circumstances I insisted upon formally presenting the note.
I informed him that since he was aware of the contents of the note as well as of the fact that it was delivered in accordance with instructions from my Government which has been surprised and had failed to understand the lack of cooperation manifested by the officials of the Foreign Office with whom the Embassy had dealt in the premises and since furthermore he had undertaken personally to interest himself in expediting the case I would withhold the presentation of the note. He said that if I would get in touch with him in “2 or 3” days he hoped to have information for me on the subject.35
- Telegram in two sections.↩
- Mrs. Rubens came to the Embassy on June 19, and at that time as well as on three later visits talked with apparent freedom to members of the Embassy. She declined the offer of a passport for return to the United States, preferring to remain in the Soviet Union for the possibility that she could be of assistance to her husband, and hesitating to return to the United States where she might be brought to trial for violation of the passport laws, and once more be confined to prison if found guilty. On November 17, 1939, Ambassador Steinhardt reported that he had been informed on reliable authority that Mrs. Rubens became a Soviet citizen on October 10, resuming her maiden name of Boerger, and had left Moscow to reside in Kiev.↩