102.1/9–844: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Switzerland ( Harrison )28
3104. From the Department, Treasury and FEA. ReLegs cable 5549, August 24.29 The missions in Sweden, Turkey, Portugal and Spain, for your information, are being instructed, subject to British concurrence, to initiate negotiations with the Governments to which they are accredited, with a view to getting those Governments to take action similar to that outlined in Department’s 2558 of July 2630 regarding acquisition of gold. After considering the subject further it has been considered desirable to substitute Axis for Germany in the policy statement, and in each instance to have the prohibition extended to persons, entities and Governments. The changes are in detail rather than in substance. However, to make the policy statements uniform you may wish to substitute the following statement for that contained in Department’s 2558 at an appropriate time during the discussions, unless the substitution would jeopardize the acceptance of the program by the Swiss:
The Government of Switzerland on their own behalf will not receive for deposit or acquire any interest in gold in which any individual entity or Government in occupied territories or Axis and associated countries has an interest and will forbid the acquisition or receipt of such gold or of any interest in such gold by individuals, to entities, including the Swiss National Bank, within Swiss jurisdiction. Furthermore, the Government of Switzerland will not permit gold, in which any individual or entity in occupied territories or Axis and associated countries has an interest, to be imported into Switzerland, either for storage in bond or for safe-keeping. The Swiss Government will not permit their currency or other currencies to be made available to or in behalf of any such individual entity or Government as described herein for or against gold already held in Switzerland.
We shall keep you informed on how the negotiations with the other neutral European countries are progressing so that you may make appropriate use of the information in your conversations with the Swiss.
Sent Bern, repeated London.
- Repeated on the same date as telegram 7272 to London.↩
- Not printed; it indicated that an aide-mémoire, which included a paraphrased text of the gold clause as transmitted in Department’s telegram 2558, July 26 (not printed), had been handed on August 24 to a Swiss official for transmission to the Political Department (862.515/8–2444).↩
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Not printed; it transmitted in paraphrase the proposed text of the gold clause (862.515/7–2644).
Telegram 2713, August 7, 1 p.m., authorized the Minister in Switzerland to start negotiating with the Swiss with a view to immediate acceptance by the Swiss Government of the gold policy embodied in telegram 2558 (862.515/8–744).
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