Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1940, General, Volume I

740.0011 European War 1939/4280: Telegram

The Minister in Rumania (Gunther) to the Secretary of State

Bucharest, June 27, 1940—4 p.m.
[Received June 29—11:15 a.m.]

304. My telegram No. 302, June 27, 1 p.m. The following is translation of the text of note handed to the Rumanian Minister in Moscow by Molotov yesterday at 10 p.m.:³⁹

“In 1918, Rumania, taking advantage of the military weakness of Russia, took by force from the Soviet Union (Russia) a portion of its territory, Bessarabia, and thus disrupted the eternal unity of Bessarabia, populated chiefly by Ukrainians, with the Ukrainian Soviet Eepublic.

“The Soviet Union has never reconciled itself to the fact of the violent seizure of Bessarabia, and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has repeatedly and openly stated this before the whole world.

“Now, when the military weakness of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has become a thing of the past, and when the international situation which has arisen demands a very swift settlement of unsolved questions inherited from the past, in order finally to lay the foundations for a lasting peace between countries, the Soviet Union considers it necessary and timely, in the interests of the reestablishment of justice, to reach, together with Rumania, an immediate settlement of the question of the return of Bessarabia to the Soviet Union.

“The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics considers the question of the return of Bessarabia to be organically linked with the question of the cession to the Soviet Union of that part of Bukovina the population of which by a huge majority is related to the Soviet Ukraine, not only by the community of its historical fate, but also by the community of language and national composition. Such an act would be all the more just in that the cession of the northern part of Bukovina to the Soviet Union could be—in truth, only to an insignificant degree—a form of reparation for the enormous harm done to the Soviet Union and the population of Bessarabia by the 22 years of Rumanian rule in Bessarabia.

“The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics proposes that the Royal Government of Rumania:

1. Return Bessarabia to the Soviet Union.

2. Cede to the Soviet Union the northern part of Bukovina within the boundaries set by the appended map.⁴⁰

“The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics expresses the hope that the Royal Government of Rumania will accept the present proposals of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and thus make possible a peaceful settlement of the protracted dispute between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Rumania.

“The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics expects the answer of the Royal Government of Rumania on June 27, 1940.”

The Rumanian Crown Council presided over by the King has been in continuous session since early this morning. I am informed by my Yugoslav colleague⁴¹ who has seen the King that Rumania has requested the opinion of Germany,⁴² Italy, Turkey, Greece and Yugoslavia on this document.⁴³ So far only Yugoslavia has replied counseling extreme prudence. The Yugoslav Ambassador states that while his Government does not wish to meddle in the internal affairs of her ally she feels that it is far easier to begin a war than to finish it and that Rumania will be well advised to accede to the Russian proposal in the hope that at a later date this question may be settled at a peace conference. He further informs me that the Yugoslav Government has information from both Budapest and Sofia that these two Governments will remain tranquil but that they wish it understood that this action on their part does not imply relinquishment of their claims to territorial revision. The speeches by the various Crown councilors are said to have been very bellicose but up to the present time the King has given no indication of his opinion.

For historical background in view of distortion of historical facts in Russian history see my despatch No. 1207 of January 30th, 1940.⁴⁴

Gunther

39. The translation contained in this telegram was frequently garbled, although the meaning remained clear. Consequently, the translation which was enclosed in despatch No. 599, July 8, from the Chargé in the Soviet Union, has been substituted here. (740.0011 European War 1939/5096)
40. The Minister reported in his telegram No. 316, June 28, 3 p.m., that the map had still not arrived, and that “there may be some unpleasant surprises when it does.” (740.0011 European War 1939/4283)
41. Yovan Duchich.
42. Material illustrative of the position adopted by Germany during this crisis has been published in Department of State, Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945, series D, vol. x.
43. In his telegram No. 316, June 28, 3 p.m., the Minister stated that he had been told that every government which Rumania had consulted had replied advising appeasement, and that in consequence “it would have been a hopeless task to hold out alone” against the Soviet Union. (740.0011 European War 1939/4283)
44. Not printed.