840.48 Refugees/6015a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Switzerland (Harrison)
1672. The following is for McClelland and forms WRB cable no. 17.
The information below has been reported by Consul at Istanbul:
“In late March all registered Jews in Greece were confined in Haidari concentration camp. Evacuation from camp to unknown destination believed to be Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia of 4,000 thereof [Page 1042] occurred on April 2. Orders were issued for repatriation of Turkish, Spanish and Portuguese Jews. These developments have complicated the question of assistance since officially there are no Jews in Greece, all registered Jews having been removed, while through failure on their part to comply with registration order issued by the Germans all Jews in hiding have lost the last remnant of their rights.”
Instructions have been issued to obtain action to help victims in Greece claiming the nationalities of the respective countries to the missions at Istanbul, Lisbon and Madrid. A request to obtain the cooperation of the Holy See has been directed to the American representative in Vatican City.
Please ask Intercross to extend all aid possible to said victims including those evacuated from Greece. Information as to destination of evacuees would be appreciated.19
- Intermittently throughout 1944 some 900 Jewish refugees from Greece and the Greek islands bound for Palestine managed to reach Turkey through the port of Izmir and small ports on the Aegean, and Turkish authorities assisted in prompt transportation of these refugees to Palestine.↩