462.11L5232/830
The German Ambassador (Luther) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary of State: I have the honor to communicate the following to you by direction of my Government:
In connection with an inquiry of the State Department, the German Embassy in Washington informed the State Department on June 17, 1936,35 that the German Government, for which the Foreign Office was acting, entertained the wish to conduct negotiations, apart from the proceedings now pending before the German-American Mixed Commission, in which the so-called sabotage cases are involved. In that connection it was stated that the American negotiators to be sent to Germany would be welcome to the Foreign Office and the other German Government offices concerned. Thereupon the American Government sent its Agent before the Mixed Commission, Mr. Robert [Page 349] W. Bonynge, and his legal adviser, Mr. Harold H. Martin, to Germany. The American plenipotentiaries did not take advantage of the opportunity to call at the Foreign Office. But in Munich they held discussions with Captain von Pfeffer,36 the results of which are set down in various documents that were exchanged during the days from July 1st to 10th, 1936.
During the discussions conducted at Munich, a settlement of the proposal for re-opening [the case],37 submitted to the Mixed Commission by the parties complaining of sabotage, was contemplated, whereby the Commission was to promise them certain sums the numerical amount of which was, however, not yet determined. It was to be the prerequisite for such a settlement that it was to be the first step in a thorough-going improvement in the relations between the two countries and that it was by no means to be made to appear as if the German Government were willing to accept any responsibility whatever for the claims made in the complaint. The aim striven for therein was to settle definitively all claims cases still pending before the Mixed Commission, so that an end could be made to that whole matter.
As far as the proceedings before the Commission are concerned, the sole importance of the result of the discussions conducted in Munich was that of forming the preparation of a basis for official steps, which the German Government could, if necessary, cause to be taken before the Commission by its Agent.
To the regret of the German Government, it has, however, been found in the meantime that by the course contemplated the prerequisites of the settlement could not be fulfilled nor could the desired goal be attained. Among other things, a number of holders of awards made previously by the Commission have protested to the American Government against the outcome of the Munich discussions. The American Government has directed its Agent to submit this protest to the Commission and to agree to the proposals in which the interveners requested a hearing before the Commission. Thus there is no assurance that the ending of the Commission proceedings will be reached in the way contemplated at Munich. Bather must it be taken into account that the Commission proceedings will possibly be continued in the form of a suit between the parties complaining of sabotage and their opponents.
In view of this state of affairs, the German Government does not intend to continue on the course the way for which was opened by the discussions conducted at Munich, and direct its Agent to get into [Page 350] contact with the American Agent in order to bring about the submission of joint claims for the making of awards by the Commission. The German Government rather wishes to continue the cases pending before the Commission in the status in which they were before the beginning of the conversations at Munich.
The German Government has found, to its surprise, that the American Agent has considered it proper to submit to the Commission the documents that were exchanged at Munich and to propose that the Commission make decisions against Germany on that ground. The German Government calls attention to the fact that the Commission, however, under its rules of procedure, to which reference was specifically made at Munich, cannot make a decision not based upon examination of claims on their merits unless the Agents of both countries propose it, jointly. It is the business of the Commission to examine the claims that are made on the basis of the Berlin Agreement38 with regard to the facts and to decide on them; on the other hand, it does not lie within its powers to investigate and appraise negotiations that have been conducted outside the proceedings of the Commission. The German Government takes the stand that no questions of any kind, of a factual or legal nature, that may arise out of the Munich discussions are left to the Commission for decision. The German Government has therefore directed its Agent before the Commission not to enter into the proposals made by the American Agent, which aim at the putting into effect of the results of the Munich conversations.
Accept [etc.]
- Memorandum of conversation held in the Department June 17, 1936, not printed.↩
- Hauptmann von Pfeffer, German Special Agent; for account of the discussions, see Foreign Relations, 1936, vol. ii, pp. 266 ff.↩
- Brackets appear in the file translation.↩
- For text of agreement, see League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. cvi, p. 121.↩