701.60F11/273
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Moffat)
The Czechoslovak Minister, Dr. Hurban, came to see me on a number of matters:
[Page 43](1) Dr. Hurban said that he had been talking with Mr. Beneš and Mr. Jan Masaryk74 concerning what he should do in the way of turning over his Legation if ordered to do so. The tentative conclusion that he had reached was not to turn over the Legation until he had received written orders from President Hacha.75 He would not accept telegraphic orders as anyone could sign Hacha’s name to a telegram. He had this morning sent a message to his colleagues in Paris and London inquiring what they were doing, but had not yet received a reply.
He asked for my comment on his plans. I told him that at first blush I would well understand his desire to be perfectly certain that he was carrying out the wishes of his Government, and that in any event I thought he was well advised to do nothing precipitately.
(2) Dr. Hurban was increasingly worried concerning the safety of Miss Alice Masaryk. He said that a plane had reached London having on board General Syrový76 and Premier Beran. Miss Masaryk was not on the plane. He understood that the Germans now had orders to shoot down any Czech plane in the air. I called up Mr. Norman Davis77 again, who agreed to send off a telegram this morning to de Rouget of the League of Red Cross Societies in Paris urging him to give Miss Masaryk a post, and to use the influence of the Society in getting her out of Bohemia.
(3) Dr. Hurban inquired about the status not only of Czech officials but of their personal employees and servants in the matter of their visas. I took the Minister to call on Mr. Avra Warren,78 who explained the situation as it affected different categories of officials—diplomats, consuls, servants, those married to Americans, et cetera. He also told the Minister about certain private bills that had been introduced.
(4) Dr. Hurban touched lightly and in strict confidence on the financial embarrassment in which Czechoslovak officials would find themselves by virtue of their official salaries being (presumably) cut off. I shall not make this part of the conversation a matter of record.
(5) The Minister reverted to the claims of the Germans that Hacha had invited them into the country, and thought that from everybody’s point of view it was essential to get this phase of the matter cleared up.
- Czechoslovak Minister in the United Kingdom from 1925 to March 1939.↩
- Emil Hacha, President of Czechoslovakia at the time of the German occupation, and subsequently President of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.↩
- Gen. Jan Syrový, Minister of Defense in Premier Beran’s Cabinet.↩
- Chairman of the American Red Cross and of the Board of Governors of the League of Red Cross Societies.↩
- Chief of the Visa Division.↩