860C.515/108: Telegram
The Consul General at Algiers (Wiley) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 11—12:50 a.m.]
1246. From Murphy.2 Stefan Michalski, representative of Bank of Poland, called on me today to inform me confidentially that he has now reached an agreement with Couve de Murville3 for release [Page 444] of gold of Bank of Poland4 as well as miscellaneous assets, jewelry, etc., which he states are still stored at Kayes, Senegal.
He particularly wishes to know whether the United States will cooperate in the shipment of the gold and other assets, amounting to a total of approximately 65 tons, to the United States.
I should be grateful for your prompt instructions in this regard. He inquired particularly whether shipment by an American naval vessel would be possible.
Repeated to Dakar. [Murphy.]
- Robert D. Murphy, Chief Civil Affairs Officer at Algiers; American Political Adviser on the staff of the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater; Personal Representative of President Roosevelt in North Africa, with the personal rank of Minister.↩
- Maurice Couve de Murville, Finance Commissioner, French Committee of National Liberation, which was constituted on June 3, 1943.↩
- The Bank of Poland had deposited some 64 million dollars worth of gold reserves in the Bank of France, which, on the eve of the German occupation of France, had removed its funds to French West Africa. The Polish Government in Exile wished to reclaim the gold, and the Polish Embassy in the United States, in a note dated November 11, 1942, requested United States aid in persuading the French to release it and then transporting it to the United States where it would be more accessible (860C.51/1504). Mr. Michalski had been in French Africa for several months, locating the gold and negotiating with French officials for its release.↩