851R.00/488: Telegram
The Consul General at Algiers (Wiley) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 29—6 p.m.]
729. From Murphy. Your 774, April 23, 7 p.m. The question of the transfer of refugees from Spain to French North Africa has been the subject of several discussions in which the Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces in the Mediterranean and the Chief of Staff have participated. The Department knows that there are at present approximately 15,000 French refugees in Spain, including many officers, specialists, engineers, and others whose services in the war effort are of urgent interest. These include many of the Jewish faith.
Allied and naval authorities are experiencing difficulty in supplying the necessary shipping and escort vessels to transport these persons to North Africa. It is expected that the first group of approximately 1,400 will depart shortly via Portugal. If these French refugees can be removed from Spain, such action would go far to relieve the pressure under which the Spanish Government is now resting. It would also ease the lot of the six or seven thousand persons of various nationalities mentioned in the Department’s telegram under reference. Unfortunately, publicity, for obvious reasons, cannot be given to the effort being made to transport refugees from Spain because of possible Axis reaction.
With respect to specific questions asked in the present telegram, undoubtedly the local French authorities will be glad to cooperate whenever they may have succeeded in transferring from Spain the large number of French refugees now hoping to proceed here whose [Page 298] number is being daily augmented by a steady flow over the Franco-Spanish frontier. Arrival of refugees in this area, where there exists an acute shortage of building material, clothing, medical supplies, foodstuffs, and approximately everything necessary for their welfare, should be accompanied by importation of these necessities. In any event it should clearly be understood that these refugees would be concentrated in North Africa only as a temporary measure pending eventual transport elsewhere. [Murphy.]