Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1944, General, Volume I

840.48 Refugees/6290a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Naples (Brandt)

Washington, June 13, 1944—7 p.m.

191. The following is War Refugee Board message to Tittmann for delivery to the Cardinal Secretary of State:

“We know His Holiness has been sorely grieved by the wave of hate which has engulfed Europe and the consequent mass enslavement, persecution, deportation and slaughter of helpless men, women and children. His Holiness, we also know, has labored unceasingly to reinculcate a decent regard for the dignity of man, activated by great compassion for the sufferings of a large portion of mankind. The tireless efforts of His Holiness to alleviate the lot of the persecuted, the hunted and the outcast are also known to us. We are certain His Holiness is aware of the deep feeling of abhorrence aroused in the American people by the mass deportations, persecutions, enslavements and slaughters in the Balkans, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Norway, Poland and elsewhere. We are confident that His Holiness is also aware of the deep concern of the Government of the United States relative to these reversions to usages of ancient barbarism, and of the constant efforts to prevent their recurrence which it has made.

We believe it is appropriate, because of the common concern of the Holy See and the Government and people of the United States with such matters, to call to the Holy See’s attention the apparently authentic reports that the present authorities in Hungary have undertaken to persecute the 800,000 Jews in Hungary and are planning their mass slaughter both in Hungary and after deportation to Poland merely because they are Jews. The authorities and people of Hungary have been warned by the Government of the United States of the material consequences that the perpetration of such inhuman acts of barbarism will entail. It is both timely and fitting, we believe, that the moral values involved and the spiritual consequences that must flow from indulgence in the persecution and mass murder of helpless men, women and children be brought to the attention of the Hungarian authorities and people. We earnestly hope, therefore, that His Holiness may find it appropriate to express himself on this subject to the authorities and people of Hungary, great numbers of whom profess spiritual adherence to the Holy See, personally by radio, through the Nuncio and clergy in Hungary, as well as through a representative of the Holy See who might, for that purpose, be specially despatched to Hungary.”⁷⁶

Hull

76. Telegram 300, June 28, from Naples, indicated that this message had been delivered on June 24 to the Cardinal Secretary of State (840.48 Refugees/6–2844).

    The Apostolic Delegate (Cicognani) advised the War Refugee Board in his letter of July 7 (not printed) that Pope Pius had addressed a note to the Hungarian Regent on June 25 voicing a personal appeal and that in response, the Regent had declared that he would do everything in his power to cause the demands of humanitarian and Christian principles to prevail. For a while following these assurances there were indications that deportation as a policy had, in fact, been abandoned.