890D.927/141
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Leahy)
Sir: On January 5, 1940 the French authorities in Syria granted a concession to the Oriental Institute, Chicago, for archaeological excavations at Tel Fecheriya, Syria. The concession contract provided [Page 667] for a period of duration of six years. The Oriental Institute sent an expedition to the site in April 1940, and excavations were continued uninterrupted until August 1940, when the French authorities in Syria informed the American archaeologist in charge of the expedition, Dr. Calvin McEwan, that the German Government had demanded the cancellation of the concession, on the grounds that a previous concession covering this area had been granted to a German archaeologist, Baron Max Von Oppenheim, and that the continuing validity of Baron Von Oppenheim’s concession had been recognized by the French authorities in Syria as late as June 2, 1939.
Dr. McEwan was permitted to continue his excavations for several weeks, in order to permit him to bring to a conclusion the work immediately in hand. On August 25, 1940, his expedition is said to have been ordered off the site by French police authorities.
The Department has not been informed that the French Government has formally cancelled the concession granted to the Oriental Institute. In anticipation, however, that such action may be taken, the Oriental Institute has requested the Department of State to enter a full reservation of the rights of the Institute in connection with the concession contract. In as much as the American institution accepted the contract from the French authorities in good faith and has, as far as the Department is aware, fulfilled in every respect the obligations thereof, the Department is of the opinion that there are no justifiable grounds on which the French Government may cancel the contract at this time, prior to its expiration. The Oriental Institute proceeded promptly to the development of the site, and maintained full operations during the first season, at an expenditure of some $18,000.
You are requested to point out the foregoing considerations in a formal note to the French Government, reserving the full rights of the Oriental Institute under the concession and expressing the confidence of the American Government that the Government of France will not accede to the German Government’s request that the contract be cancelled.
Very truly yours,