740.00119 European War 1939/2254
The Ambassador of the Soviet Union (Gromyko) to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: The Soviet Government has authorized me to inform the Government of the United States, that at the end of January, 1944 a correspondent of Tass60 in Stockholm was called [Page 499] on by a member of the STB (Scandinavian Telegraph Bureau) in Denmark and [who?] at the beginning introduced himself as a Dane. The visitor stated, that everybody knew now about the approaching end of Nazism and that in Germany the military group would come to power, and that even now the position of Keitel,61 who is considered as an “apolitical General”, was growing stronger.
The visitor informed that he had flown in from Copenhagen on January 26, where, before his departure, he had a talk with the emperial [imperial] deputy Best.62 According to him, Best, acting on behalf of the German government, asked him to get in touch with someone in Stockholm, so that the Soviet Government could learn about it, that the German government was ready to send at any time to Stockholm a high official with official credentials from the German government to start peace negotiations between the U.S.S.R. and Germany. Having listened to the above, and having learned that the visitor was not a Dane but a German, the Tass correspondent terminated the conversation and asked the visitor to leave his office.
The Ambassador in London63 is informing the Government of Great Britain regarding the aforesaid.
Sincerely yours,