Office of the Historian

860P.00/344: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State

Moscow, June 18, 1941—2 p.m.
[Received June 18—1:45 p.m.]

1163. I have received a report that on the night of June 13 the Soviet authorities began mass arrests in Latvia. The arrests appear to be evenly distributed throughout the country. My informant was not in a position to furnish any information concerning the other Baltic States.

I have also been informed that peasant labor has been requisitioned to speed the completion of a large airport located some 30 miles north of Libau.67

Steinhardt
  1. Liepāja, Libava.↩