851R.00/204: Airgram
The Consul General at Casablanca (Russell) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 27, 1943—4 p.m.]
A–9. At the moment of the American landing in Morocco there were some 4,000 persons, excluding French and Moroccans, in workers’ camps or internment camps in Morocco. Of these approximately 500 were British, 500 Poles, 50 Czechs, 2,000 Spanish Republicans and 500 ex-Germans and ex-Austrians, the rest being of various nationalities.
All the British were released almost immediately after the termination of hostilities and the greater part of those desiring to go to England have already left on American Army transports returning to the United States.
The local Polish and Czech representatives are making arrangements for their men to be liberated and sent to join their armies in Great Britain.
The Protectorate authorities have informally expressed the desire to have the Spanish Republicans sent to Mexico under the Franco-Mexican agreement of 1939 by which the Mexican Government gives travelling papers and passage to Spanish refugees. These men are of military age but do not wish to join a French unit because of the treatment they received in the camps. They could be used in the Mexican Army. There is, however, no Mexican Consul in Morocco who can arrange their departure. The Department may see fit to bring this situation to the attention of the Mexican Government.
The ex-Germans and ex-Austrians are for the most part Jews who volunteered in the French Army before the Franco-German Armistice and were put in workers camps after that Armistice through German pressure. Those who are not Jews refused to be repatriated in spite of bad conditions in the camps and heavy [Page 486] pressure from the German Armistice Commission. Most of these men now desire to join a United Nations Army, but not a French unit because of the treatment they received in the camps. Many have offered to enlist in the American Army, but the instructions of the local military authorities do not permit this.
The local press has carried accounts of the formation of a Jewish army in Palestine and an Austrian battalion attached to the American Army. The Consulate has received many offers of service in these two units and would appreciate any information or instructions the Department may desire to give.
For the remaining persons the American military authorities are attempting to organize a voluntary construction battalion.
It may be said that the French authorities are making unnecessary difficulties to prevent the liberation of these persons.