352.6315/6: Telegram
The Minister in Austria (Messersmith) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 10—9:45 a.m.]
49. An official of the Foreign Office called at the Legation yesterday stating that he had been requested by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to request the Legation to transmit to the Department the request of the Austrian Government that our Consular officers in Spain and more particularly the Embassy in Madrid take over the protection of Austrian citizens in Spain. He said that this request was being transmitted through this Legation instead of through the [Page 704] Austrian Minister in Washington as the latter was absent on leave. He left with me the following aide-mémoire:
“In Spain Austrian Consulates exist in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia which are all honorary Consulates. While the head of the Consulate at Valencia, a Spanish citizen, is at his post the heads of the Consulates in Madrid and Barcelona are outside the country. The representative of the Austrian Export Promotion Institute, Walter Brunner, an Austrian citizen, is acting as temporary head of the Madrid Consulate but he may have to leave Madrid soon. The Consulate at Barcelona is temporarily conducted by the Honorary Chancellor Schultes. The Federal Chancellery Department for Foreign Affairs requests the Department of State in Washington to instruct the American authorities in Spain to kindly assist the Austrian Consulates in the protection of Austrian interests and particularly to authorize the American Embassy in Madrid to take over the protection of Austrian citizens in case of need.”
I informed the representative of the Foreign Office that I would transmit the foregoing to the Department.