868.48/2011
The Greek Minister (Diamantopoulos) to the Secretary of
State
No. 3683
Washington, December 22,
1941.
Your Excellency: I have the honor to transmit
to you herewith the text of a cabled appeal sent by the Prime Minister
of Greece, Mr. Emmanuel Tsouderos, to the President of the United
States, and to beg that you be kind enough to communicate this message
to its high destination.
Accept [etc.]
[Enclosure]
The Greek Prime Minister (Tsouderos) to President Roosevelt
Mister President: The food situation in
Greece has become desperate. Accurate information from various
sources confirms that people are dying in the streets from
starvation. During the last weeks daily deaths in Athens and Piraeus
amount to five hundred conservative estimate, other reports state
one thousand. This information is confirmed by representatives of
International Red Cross and Red Crescent accompanying shipments of
foodstuffs for Greece. I am indeed grateful to the British
Government for allowing shipment to Greece despite blockade
regulations of small quantities of foodstuffs produced in Turkey.
These do not exceed 4,000 tons monthly. However, an unending
insistence in refusing shipments of wheat threatens to bring about a
real disaster in that gallant country and to contribute to the
annihilation of the race. The emotion of the Greeks is indescribable
in face of this situation
[Page 726]
and from every quarter within and without Greece I receive desperate
appeals on behalf of our starving people. The principle according to
which the invader is obliged to feed the population in occupied
areas is one of International Law but the brutal Germans have long
since discarded respect for any law and their only object is the
reduction of the world by fire, sword and famine. Therefore, we
cannot take refuge behind a principle of International Law and
deliberately ignore a state of affairs which exists. We have not
ceased believing in blockade as a means of waging war but every
measure however necessary for carrying on the war when it overlooks
in its application those principles which are imposed by our duty
towards defenseless human beings will I fear be very severely
criticized and condemned by History. I believe that if my
expressions are sharp they will be judged by the measure of my grief
and I pray that in interceding on behalf of the Greeks you forgive
the manner in which I put my thoughts and feelings before you.
