840.48 Refugees/3130: Telegram
The Minister in Switzerland ( Harrison ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3:02 p.m.]
4405. Legation’s 4384, September 25.36 There are reports here of an interview which the Swiss Minister in Vichy,37 acting as delegate for France of the International Red Cross Committee, had with Marshal Pétain concerning the deportation of Jewish refugees. M. Stucki is said to have gone to the limit of emphasis in trying to impress the Marshal with the tragic aspects of this situation especially as affecting children. He told a friend that it was “probably the first time in history that a Swiss Minister in order to drive home a point has pounded a table before the Chief of a Foreign State.” My informant states that the Marshal “deplored” the situation and repeated that it was a matter of “internal concern”; M. Stucki informed him that he disagreed and that under the deportation measures, children were even being taken from institutions where they had been cared for by Swiss charity.
Repeated to Vichy.