125.0051/388
Memorandum by President Roosevelt to the Secretary of War ( Stimson )30
The Department of State is very much concerned about the prospects of the United States diplomatic officers and their families who are at present held in confinement in Germany.
I am in agreement that every practicable effort to obtain their early release should be made.
The German Government has refused to consider an exchange unless the sixty-seven members of the German Armistice Commissions captured in North Africa be included in the number of German prisoners to be released.
It is my desire that the War Department take such action as is necessary toward the release of members of the German Armistice Commissions which will make it possible for the Department of State to arrange for the exchange of German prisoners for American Nationals now held by Germany.
- Copy received in the Department of State June 18.↩