740.00115 European War 1939/6214: Airgram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Peru (Norweb)
A–504. Embassies Bogotá and Quito have reported that Colombian and Ecuadoran Governments are informed by German Government that detention in Germany of their respective diplomatic missions formerly accredited to Vichy is attributable to detention in United States of Germans from those countries who should have been repatriated under the exchange agreement.
If such a communication is made to the Peruvian Government, you may explain the situation in the following terms:
The termination by the unilateral action of the German Government of the exchange agreement with Germany16 interrupted the repatriation of Germans from this country and of Germans from the other American Republics who were sent here with a view to repatriation. Furthermore, the German Government, in addition to terminating the agreement, defaulted on specific obligations to repatriate nationals of the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Colombia who were to have been exchanged for Germans from those three countries already repatriated by way of the United States. In view of these aspects of the situation United States Government could not do otherwise than continue to retain here the 712 Germans from the other American Republics who had been brought here with a view to their repatriation and had not yet been repatriated on the exchange vessels.
It should be noted that of the 712 Germans referred to no less than 120 expressed unwillingness to be repatriated. Among the remaining 592 Germans there are included individuals concerning whom we have in the meanwhile developed information indicating that their return to Germany would on grounds of security be dangerous to hemisphere security. Furthermore, the entire aspect of the war situation has changed since these persons arrived in this country and such considerations as the present shortage of manpower in Germany must inevitably be taken into consideration.
We have recently received from the German Government a proposal linking the release of the Germans referred to with the repatriation of our officials and assimilated categories of nationals who were seized on French territory. This proposal reopens the question of the repatriation of these individuals and we are now considering the case in the light of all the facts available to us. Considerations of security and other considerations bearing on the war effort cannot be [Page 85] overlooked and it is possible that we may be unable to agree to the repatriation of some individuals even if that refusal prevents us from obtaining the release of official groups of the American Republics now in Germany.
Although the Germans have no less than 151 United States official personnel in their hands we will in our considerations and negotiations give our group no more consideration than the smaller group of Peruvians whom the Germans are holding since it is our desire in this matter to deal with all the interested American Republics on a basis of absolute equality. If you agree, please inquire of the Foreign Office whether it feels it could develop a formula for the release of its officials which would not bring into play the question of the Germans held here nor put the Peruvians, as the Germans undoubtedly intend, in a position where they add to the German pressure on us to release persons whose return to Europe may be very injurious to the safety of the hemisphere and the war effort of the United Nations. It should be noted that the Bolivian and Honduran officials in France were released by the Germans without regard to the fact that numerous Germans from those two countries have been held in this country under conditions similar to those existing in the case of the Germans from Peru.
For our part if we are able to reach some agreement with the Germans for the release of our own officials we will no less insist upon the simultaneous release of the Peruvian officials. In other words we are considering this entire problem on a basis of hemispheric solidarity and will deal with the interests of the other American Republics on the basis of equality with our own interests.
- See telegram No. 1672, July 1, 1942, to the Minister in Switzerland, Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. i, p. 371, and telegram No. 3217, July 9, 1942, from the Minister in Switzerland, ibid., p. 372.↩