300.115(39)/302: Telegram
The Consul General at Hamburg (Keblinger) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:25 p.m.]
239. Referring to my telegram No. 235, December 14.17 I have been informed by an official of the Prize Commissioner’s office that the Berlin authorities have thus far authorized him to release only Danish and Swedish vessels, as arrivals of those vessels released on November 18 are reported from the United States. The official professed inability to explain why Swedish and Danish vessels were being freed while Norwegian, Estonian, Latvian, and Finnish steamers which in many cases have been held considerably longer are still being detained. In the case of the Norwegian vessels including the steamship Geisha he gave as his personal opinion that the unfriendliness of the Norwegian Government in other unnamed respects might have influenced the Berlin authorities in their decision.
Repeat to Berlin.
- Not printed.↩