124.60M/23: Telegram
The Chargé in Lithuania (Gufler) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4:15 p.m.]
205. Within the past 2 days all representatives of foreign countries in Lithuania have received notes dated August 10th requesting them to inform their governments that as a result of the entry of [Page 418] Lithuania into the Soviet Union the Lithuanian diplomatic and consular representations in their respective countries are liquidated as of August 8th. A note so dated and signed by the General Secretary of the Foreign Office, Glovackas, as Acting Foreign Minister, was received by this Legation this morning.
I have also received this morning a note dated August 12th signed by Professor Kreve-Mickevicius, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, requesting me to inform the Government of the United States that in view of the admission of Lithuania into the Soviet Union all direct diplomatic relations between Lithuania and the United States of America have ceased to exist.
The note continues:
“The Government of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Lithuania hopes that the Legation of the United States of America will liquidate its affairs in Lithuania by the 25th of this month. On its part it will undertake to extend to you and to the members of the Legation all necessary assistance in matters concerning the departure.
On this same occasion, I have the honor to inform you that the activity of all foreign consulates in Lithuania must be stopped and that the consulates are equally obliged to liquidate their offices by the same date, the 25th of August 1940.”
All of the other Legations here have received similar notes.
The Foreign Office has informed me orally that the words “liquidate its affairs in Lithuania by the 25th of the month” mean that we must be over the frontier in person and with our property by that date. In the course of repeating orally the offer of assistance made in the note, the Secretary General of the Foreign Office conveyed to me a strong intimation that if we did not get our personnel and property across the frontier in a hurry while he was still in a position to assist us we might experience some serious difficulties.
With the exception of the British Legation all of the diplomatic missions here propose to liquidate themselves and depart by the date set. The British Minister17 has closed the doors of his office to the public and has requested through the British Embassy at Moscow an extension of time until September 10 to complete the liquidation of his office and to pack and to ship to Riga his personal property and the property of the British Government for storage in the building owned by his Government in that city.
The Italian Legation, which has a good deal of government property in its possession, proposes in accordance with arrangements that it has made with the Italian Embassy in Moscow to seal the Legation building rented here by the Italian Government and to turn it over, together with the government property that it contains, to the protection of the appropriate local authorities until such time as the Italian [Page 419] Embassy at Moscow shall be able to send to Kaunas an agent to arrange for the shipment of the property to Moscow.
Because of the large amount of American Government property at this post, the great demand for packers, and the diminished staff now available in this office I fear that it may be difficult to arrange for the packing and shipping of the Government property by August 25 and respectfully request instructions as to whether I should request an extension of time or should make some arrangement with our Embassy in Moscow similar to that made by the Italians. I am convinced that an extension of time will probably not be granted.
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- Thomas H. Preston.↩