Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, The British Commonwealth and Europe, Volume III

859.01/181

Memorandum by the Secretary of State to President Roosevelt

Washington , May 10, 1944.

I am attaching for your consideration the draft text of the Declaration on Denmark which it is proposed should be issued simultaneously in Washington, London and Moscow under my signature and those of Mr. Eden²³ and Mr. Molotov.²⁴ The Declaration is primarily designed to give encouragement to the Danish people in their opposition to the Germans and, secondarily, to meet the wishes of Danish groups in this country and the United Kingdom. It does not confer on Denmark the status of either a United Nation or a nation associated with the United Nations and is not intended to lead to the establishment of any type of Danish Government in exile.

Should you approve of the issuance of the proposed Declaration and its text, the American Chargé d’Affaires²⁵ and the British Ambassador in Moscow will be instructed to invite the Soviet authorities to participate in it. The Declaration would be issued immediately following notification of its acceptability to the Soviet Government.

The King of Norway and the King of Denmark, to whom the Declaration was secretly transmitted by the British, both approve of the proposed action.

C[ordell] H[ull]

[Annex]

Text of Proposed Declaration on Denmark

For over four years Denmark has been subjected to the Nazi yoke. Her King is virtually a prisoner, her Government has ceased to operate and her people are unable to express their feelings openly. But the whole Danish people were united behind their King in determination to refuse new and humiliating German demands provoked in August last, by their stubbornly growing resistance. Inspired by the same beliefs as Danes abroad who sail and fly and fight in the ranks of the United Nations, the Danes at home with their comrades in other occupied lands contribute by active and passive opposition to weaken the Nazi hold.

There is no Danish Government which can give expression to the feelings of Denmark by adhering to the United Nations declaration. The Governments of Great Britain, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics recognize however that the Danish nation has placed itself side by side with the United Nations and like them is determined to contribute to the common struggle for victory over Hitlerism and for the attainment of the aims of the Atlantic Charter.²⁶

23. Anthony Eden, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
24. Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union.
25. Maxwell M. Hamilton, Counselor of Embassy in Moscow.
26. Joint statement by President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill, August 14, 1941, Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. i, p. 367.