840.48 Refugees/5054

The Secretary of State to the Polish Ambassador (Ciechanowski)

The Secretary of State presents his compliments to his Excellency the Ambassador of Poland and has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Embassy’s note of December 24, 1943,2 concerning Jewish persons interned in special camps for citizens of the Allied Nations whose passports of various Neutral and Allied Nations are reported to have been taken by the Germans.

The Department is appreciative of the efforts of the Polish Government on behalf of these persons and as suggested by the Embassy, the Government of the United States has taken certain steps in order that these unfortunate persons may be saved.

The Department referred the matter to the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees3 at London asking it to endeavor to stay the deportation of these families. The American Embassy at Asuncion was requested to investigate the report that the Government of Paraguay issued instructions to annul passports which had been issued to interned Polish Jews. The Department has received word from the Paraguayan Ministry stating that the passports of the persons in question have not been cancelled nor is the Paraguayan Government considering such cancellation. This information was sent to the Intergovernmental Committee by the Department with the request that it bring the statement of the Paraguayan Ministry to the attention of the Swiss Government for communication to the German Government in intercession for the persons referred to.

The Department proposes to take any further steps which it can on behalf of these unfortunate victims of the Nazis.

  1. Not printed; it stated that information had been received through Polish diplomatic channels that the Spanish Ambassador in Berlin, acting upon instructions from the Government of Paraguay, intended to annul passports theretofore issued by the Paraguayan Consul in Bern to Polish Jews interned by the Germans in special camps for citizens of the Allied Nations (840.48–Refugees/5054).
  2. Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (IGC), established by the Evian Conference, July 1938, which was convened on the initiative of President Roosevelt.