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  4. Document 850

740.00114 European War 1939/3614: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Algiers (Wiley)

Washington, June 12, 1943—8 p.m.

1122. Your 968, May 26, 9 a.m. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have decided that the Vatican Information Service may extend its activities to and function in North Africa subject to the following conditions:

  • “1. That the activities of the Vatican Information Service shall apply only to persons not in the hands of American authorities and shall be confined exclusively to persons who do not come within the scope of activities of the Information Bureau, established in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Prisoner of War Convention, in the Office of the Provost Marshal General of the United States Army at Washington.
  • 2. That the Vatican Information Service in North Africa shall operate under such regulations as may be established by the American authorities in that area.
  • 3. That all communications handled by the Vatican Information Service to and from the North African Area shall be subject to censorship by the American authorities.”

The Department understands that appropriate instructions have been sent to General Eisenhower by the War Department.

Hull