Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, General: Economic and Social Matters, Volume II

800.515/12–644

The Secretary of State to Diplomatic Representatives in the American Republics

Washington , December 6, 1944.

Safehaven Project

Sirs: Reference is made to the Department’s circular airgram of May 25, 1944, 11 a.m.,⁵⁶ requesting that you investigate and report any evidences that enemy capital has been or is being invested in your territory. Reference is also made to Bretton Woods Resolution VI, which was transmitted to you in a circular airgram of August 19, 1944, and to the interest of this Government in the problem of looted assets and similar questions.

This Government is attempting through all available means to obtain information concerning enemy investments and plans, and the activities of persons which could be employed as a means of preserving the enemy’s economic, political and military potential abroad after the cessation of hostilities. There is evidence that the enemy, in tacit acknowledgment of defeat, is seeking refuge in neutral and friendly countries for persons and assets in order to remove them from anticipated Allied controls. While recognizing that the government to which you are accredited, consistent with its severance of diplomatic relations with or declaration of war upon the Axis, should have taken measures to preclude such activities, there may well remain a sizable body of enemy assets which have escaped control, through concealment or otherwise, and also enemy persons who have had little or no restrictions placed upon their movements and activities. It is not possible to state at this time precisely the disposition which will be made of such assets or the controls which will be imposed upon undesirable persons since those are matters requiring discussions among and concerted action by the United Nations. The information will, however, be of immediate value to this government in formulating plans for the postwar disposition of the enemy’s foreign influence and of subsequent and greater value in expediting the execution of such plans. In furtherance of those objectives you are requested to transmit at an early date all presently available information requested hereinafter and to obtain through all possible sources additional data which might prove useful. It is important that each diplomatic and consular office be prepared to keep the Department currently informed on developments in this field for several years following the cessation of hostilities in order that any resurgence of enemy activity may be quelled in its inception.

For purposes of this instruction the term “enemies” should be defined as persons or entities in any of the Axis countries, or countries which have been or are allied with the Axis, and nationals of any country who in your discretion could be considered a present or potential threat to the effective execution of Allied control plans. In carrying out this instruction the mission’s attention should be directed in the first instance to firms and individuals domiciled in or controlled from Germany and, with respect to those whose ownership resides elsewhere, to those whose activities fall within the criteria for Proclaimed List action.

You are requested to compile a register of all known enemy assets which have not been satisfactorily vested, expropriated, confiscated, nationalized, or otherwise disposed of by the government of an Allied or other friendly country showing:

(a) A description of the assets including their nature, value, location, etc.

(b) The names of any persons who may be concealing the enemy ownership of assets (such persons should be considered for inclusion in the Proclaimed List) and

(c) The names of the true owners of the assets.

In compiling a register, although equal emphasis should be given to both, a distinction should be made wherever possible between looted assets and other enemy held assets. In determining such a distinction it may be helpful to consider separately those assets owned by enemies prior to 1939 and those acquired since 1939. It may also be helpful to give special attention to those assets which are known or believed to have been owned by persons in enemy occupied areas on or after the occupation of such areas. Looted assets are those owned by persons or firms in territory now or formerly enemy occupied and which since occupation have passed to enemy ownership. They include both properties which have been transferred from enemy occupied territory and properties which originally were located in non-enemy territory but title to which has passed to an enemy.

The types of assets concerned are various, but the following items are of particular interest:

(1) Bank balances and gold holdings and transfers thereof, whether between central banks or otherwise.

(2) Gems, gold privately owned, currency, art objects, stocks of merchandise, etc.

(3) Real estate, including leaseholds (e.g., industrial, commercial, mining, agricultural, and residential properties).

(4) Securities, including investments in securities of neutral and other governments, as well as industrials.

(5) Obligations owing to the enemy in the form of mortgages, bills of exchange, insurance policies, annuities, promissory notes or other evidences of indebtedness or book credits of any kind.

(6) Patents, trademarks and copy-rights and transfers, assignments, licenses, etc. in connection therewith.

(7) Beneficial interests under trusts or estates of deceased persons.

(8) Commercial, industrial, financial or other enterprises which in any way represent enemy assets, looted or otherwise. This item should be broadly interpreted to include old as well as new investments of every kind in which an enemy has an interest. In this connection it will be noted that new investments, both open and cloaked, may represent flight capital or looted assets. Such investments might include holding companies and minority interests in established domestic firms.

You should report in detail concerning any enemy-owned assets which come to your attention. Your investigations should concern not only assets presently located in your area but also those in transit, particularly where the assets emanate from a neutral European country. It is possible that you already have reported such information in connection with a related subject, such as a recommendation for Proclaimed List action,⁵⁷ in which case a reference to the number and date of the communication will be sufficient.

Simultaneously with the compilation of a register of enemy assets, this Government wishes to initiate a survey of enemy persons and their activities. This will require a continuous fact-finding on all persons of enemy nationality for a period of years in order that the Department will be able to sense any attempts on the part of the Germans in any part of the world to maintain and improve their technical abilities with the view of fitting into a general German plan for a rearmaments program inside Germany at some rather distant future date. To that end you are requested to report all available details concerning enemies in the country to which you are accredited, particularly with regard to persons and activities such as the following:

1. Enemy technicians, financial experts or managerial help, particularly recent arrivals, employed by any enterprises irrespective of nationality in your area, or evidence that such persons are attempting to place themselves in positions where they could assist in the development of the industrial and military potential of your territory. This would include persons who are being or may be used to develop Nazi potential through the medium of partnership relations, employment connections or by serving in advisory capacities. You should also report on business enterprises with which these persons are associated and also those which have been so allied with the enemy’s economic or military organization in the past that they may offer safe haven for enemy skills by providing opportunities for technical experience, research facilities, etc. It is predictable that the persons who are enemies within the terms of this instruction will attempt to disguise themselves for a considerable period such as by posing as common laborers and refugees.

2. Careful attention should be given to enemy scientists engaged in private, governmental or university research since it is to be expected that such persons will want to maintain and improve their skills and keep abreast of any developments in their respective fields by engaging in research work in all countries affording these opportunities.

Such factors as religious adherence, political philosophies, and employment in the country to which you are accredited for several years prior to the outbreak of the war should not be considered as grounds for omitting such individuals from reports on this project. Your reports on enemy personnel should include descriptive data, such as details of training and relevant facts on previous employment. Although information on enemies recently employed in any of the above mentioned capacities is of primary interest, information on individuals employed in this type of activity subsequent to 1933 will be extremely useful. In compiling such information, the following are suggested as possible sources of information: (1) labor registrations; (2) immigration files; (3) police records; (4) university, college and technical school catalogs or faculty biographies; (5) biographical sketches in industrial and scientific publications; (6) Allied intelligence sources.

You should not hesitate to report unconfirmed rumors of attempts by the enemy to transfer his assets to places of safekeeping abroad in anticipation of impending defeat or of the movements of enemy persons seeking refuge for similar reasons. It is possible that the Department can obtain proof from other areas of the world or at least when Allied control over enemy territory is established.

The Proclaimed List should contain the most important persons and firms within your area who fall within the terms of this instruction and therefore it is suggested that the list be reviewed for the purposes stated herein in the initial stages of your work on the project. If you have not followed closely the activities of the listed persons and entities since they have been included in the list, you should now conduct investigations. It is possible that you have already undertaken such a review on the basis of the Department’s circular telegram of September 20, 1944, 5 p.m.⁵⁸ In cases where you believe the objective of controlling or thwarting enemy activities of the nature set forth in this instruction could be achieved through inclusion of the names of individuals or firms in the Proclaimed List, you should forward a recommendation to this effect with your report.

Your British colleagues have already received instructions covering this subject and have been requested to cooperate with you in this project. You should arrange to consult and work with them as closely as possible in order to attain the maximum of information. Our final objective is to obtain, of course, complete coverage of all sources available to both you and your British colleagues so that the information exchanged may be of maximum mutual benefit. You should also approach informally any other Allied missions, especially the French, Dutch, and Belgian, and discuss with them the information which is being collected and is already available, particularly with regard to looted property which is of interest to the respective governments. It should be pointed out to the missions of those countries now or formerly occupied by the enemy that while this Government recognizes their special interest in identifiable looted assets we, too, are interested in such assets with a view toward preventing the Germans from realizing any benefit therefrom and assuring that United States facilities will not inadvertently be used to provide haven for such properties.

The chief of mission should designate a qualified Foreign Service or Auxiliary Foreign Service officer to coordinate the fact-finding and reporting on this project in the country to which he is accredited and should solicit the cooperation of all intelligence organizations of this government operating in the country. The coordinating officer should, of course, utilize the commercial, banking and governmental contacts afforded the office of the Commercial Attaché along with the contacts available at the various consular posts.

For the convenience of the reporting officer, the Department has devised a simplified form which may be utilized in forwarding any information, however brief, touching upon this project. A sample of the form is enclosed herewith.⁵⁹ The report should be forwarded in hectograph.

In order to expedite prompt distribution, all cables, airgrams, form replies, and despatches on this subject should contain the code word“Safehaven”.

You should at all times have due regard for the delicate and highly confidential nature of this project.

Very truly yours,

For the Secretary of State:

Dean Acheson

56. Not printed.
57. For documentation concerning the Proclaimed and Statutory Lists, see pp. 154 ff.
58. See footnote 84, p. 188.
59. Not reproduced.