Office of the Historian

840.48 Refugees/1069: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State

London, December 8, 1938—5 p.m.
[Received December 8—2:25 p.m.]

1411. From Rublee.

1.
Your 753 of December 5, 8 p.m. We took up with the British the proposal to send a representative of the Advisory Committee to British Guiana for contact and investigation. They replied informally today that the British Government has arranged with Anthony de Rothschild to prepare the settlement in British Guiana and to take such steps as are immediately necessary as surveying, et cetera. The suggestion is made, and will be repeated formally in a few days time, that Americans who may be interested in British Guiana should establish contact with De Rothschild and his new Settlement Committee.
2.
We have been in contact since September with the Austrian exservice men’s group who wish to emigrate from Vienna. They have recently established relations with the Ecuador Land Company, with headquarters here and at Atacames, which is willing to settle them on its plantation. The point has now been reached when a request should be made to the Ecuadoran Government that this group, consisting of 800 persons, who have considerable agricultural training and may be able to bring out their tools and equipment with the consent of the Gestapo, be permitted to enter Ecuador. The British are prepared to instruct their Minister at Quito to collaborate with our Minister in addressing a request to the Ecuadoran Government for their admission. Parenthetically, the Ecuadoran Minister here declines to take the original initiative, but if the request is made to his Government he will be prepared to follow it up by furnishing particulars and making arrangements with the representative of the Vienna group. I hope that you will agree that this request can be made.
3.
The Foreign Office informs us that a report has been received from the British Ambassador at Buenos Aires to the effect that the Paraguayan Government has decided to impose an immediate prohibition of the entry of Jewish immigrants including these already provided with the necessary visas. He adds that there are 64 immigrants either on the steamer to Asunción or awaiting transportation at Montevideo. The British wish us to join with them in an approach to the Paraguayan Government with a request that the visas which have already been granted should not be canceled. The British are making a similar request of the French. For your confidential information, we are informed that some 2 months ago a British private Jewish organization sent investigators to look into the possibilities of settlement [Page 862] in Paraguay. Following their return here the Paraguayan Minister approached the private organization and said that unless they would immediately negotiate to buy a large tract of land which was the property of the Paraguayan Government at an exorbitant price which was indicated the Paraguayan Government would issue a decree prohibiting the admission of Jews into the country. The private organization declined even to consider the matter and the Minister said “they would see what would happen”. [Rublee.]
Kennedy