862.4016/1699
The Chargé in Germany ( Gilbert ) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 5.]
Sir: With reference to the Department’s telegrams No. 111 of October 24 [21], 4 p.m.4 and No. 113 of November 1, 1 p.m.,5 and the Embassy’s telegrams No. 252 of October 25, 5 p.m.,6 and No. 256 of October 28, 5 p.m.,7 relative to reports that new restrictions had been placed by the German Government upon the issuance of passports to its Jewish nationals, I have the honor to outline the status of the inquiries made on this subject to date.
Immediately following the despatch of its telegram No. 252 of October 25, 5 p.m., transmitting information received from Jewish sources in Berlin, the Embassy circularized, through the Berlin Consulate General, the various consular offices in Germany with a view to ascertaining what practice might obtain in other parts of the country regarding the granting of passports to Jews. The first replies from these offices indicated that while instances had been known in which Jews had been refused passports for foreign travel, policy varied from district to district and uniform regulations specifically prohibiting the granting of passports to Jews had apparently not been promulgated. It appears, however, that, as set forth in the Embassy’s telegram referred to above, new passports granted to Jews since the early months of last year had practically without exception been limited to a period of six months’ validity. At the same time no general steps were evidently taken to cancel passports which had been issued some time ago with an original period of five years’ validity and which had not yet expired; it was observed, however, that the Jewish holders of these passports were reluctant to present them to the police or other German authorities for fear that such action might be taken. In the meantime inquiries were made informally of the Foreign Office and the information received from that source, namely that the Reich authorities contemplated limiting the issuance of passports to Jews solely for purposes of emigration and short business trips abroad, was incorporated in the Embassy’s telegram No. 256 of October 28, 5 p.m.
Following the receipt of the Department’s telegram No. 113 of November 1, 1 p.m., and after consultation with the Consulate General in Berlin, the Embassy decided to approach the Foreign Office for more specific information which it felt justified in requesting in [Page 357] view of the relationship of the matter to existing American immigration regulations and practice. Consequently a note was dispatched to the Foreign Office on November 9, 1937, which it is believed covered all points raised in the Department’s inquiry. There is enclosed herewith a copy of this note,8 to which no reply has as yet been received, which in itself may perhaps imply that final regulations may not yet have been drafted.
More recently, and particularly during the last week in December and the first part of January, reports were received from the Consuls General in Stuttgart and Frankfort which indicated that more stringent measures had apparently been adopted on a universal scale with respect to Jewish applications for passports. Under date of December 21, 1937, the Consul General in Stuttgart reported his understanding that an order, issued by the Reich Minister of the Interior on November 28, 1937, had been put into effect which apparently assimilated local practice to that first instituted in Berlin whereby passports are being issued to Jews only for emigration or for business trips abroad. The Consul General also wrote that Jews will no longer be permitted to take advantage of the different travel agreements between Germany and various countries. He learned that the ordinance provides that Jews desiring to emigrate must sign an undertaking that they will depart within a definite and limited period of time.
The Consul General in Frankfort reported under date of December 20, 1937, that he had been informed from a reliable source that new police regulations were to be put into effect the first of the year which would denote a “change in policy” but would not be published in order to allow the police the widest possible discretion in passing upon individual applications by Jews. These regulations would aim at generally restricting trips by German citizens abroad in order to save foreign exchange, but would bear down on Jews in particular. In accordance therewith, all Jews would have their passports taken up when they return from a trip abroad and no new passports would be issued unless they desire to emigrate or make business trips abroad which the local Chamber of Commerce could endorse as being in the interest of German export trade. Only absolutely necessary foreign exchange would be furnished such an applicant, and no member of his family might accompany him except as a necessary assistant. Writing later, on January 15, the Consul General reports that a local Jewish musician who intended to make a concert tour of the United States had been refused a passport although he assured the police authorities that his visit would bring in foreign exchange in Germany.
[Page 358]In the absence of authoritative information from the Foreign Office it is difficult to state definitely what form recent regulations may take. It would nevertheless appear that general orders have been issued for the tightening of restrictions upon the granting of passports to Jews and that in the important German cities they will be able to obtain new passports only for emigration or for single business trips abroad. It would appear, however, that a certain amount of latitude is still permitted the local authorities and reports are current here in Berlin that the police in some districts are lenient in interpreting the regulations and permit the issuance of passports for short trips preliminary to arranging for emigration, or trips undertaken by virtue of urgent personal necessity involving, for instance, the death of a relative abroad. On the other hand it is rumored that in other districts the police, as they did in some parts of southern Germany in 1936, are refusing passports to Jews altogether and indeed are taking up passports which are still valid, on the suspicion that the holders planned to leave the country surreptitiously and thus evade the Capital Flight Tax. (Ordinary German passports are designated as valid for “In-und-Ausland”, and in some cases the word “Ausland” is simply stricken through by the police.) It is difficult, furthermore, to determine to what extent the limitation upon Jewish passports may be merely part of a general restriction upon the issuance of passports to all German citizens, which it was felt that the law empowering the Minister of the Interior completely to revise existing regulations might forbode (see Embassy’s despatch No. 3504 of June 3, 193710). It is probable, however, that in any general revision of the passport laws occasion would be taken to discriminate particularly against the Jews.
Respectfully yours,
- Foreign Relations, 1937, vol. ii, p. 325.↩
- Ibid., p. 326.↩
- Ibid., p. 325.↩
- Ibid., p. 326.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Not printed.↩