Office of the Historian

864.01/546: Telegram

The Minister in Portugal (Norweb) to the Secretary of State

Lisbon, April 21, 1944—6 p.m.
[Received April 22—11:13 a.m.]

1201. Department’s 1065, April 17, 9 p.m. The British and ourselves have made strong representations to the Portuguese Foreign Office in an endeavor to prevent the Portuguese Government from extending recognition to the Hungarian puppet Government.

The Foreign Office states that according to information received from the Portuguese Minister at Budapest47 the Sztojay Government has been in fact established on a legal basis and that as Wodianer has stated that he does not represent that Government he is no longer recognized as the Hungarian representative in Lisbon. Ujpetery48 would be recognized as Chargé d’Affaires.

When we protested that it appeared to us that Portugal’s action was far ahead of that of any of the other neutrals we were informed that this did not necessarily constitute recognition or anything more than a change in Hungarian representation here; and that in any case if a new Minister were to be named action on the request for agreement could be delayed.49

Norweb
  1. Carlos de Sampayo Garrido.↩
  2. Elemer Ujpétery, First Secretary of the Hungarian Legation in Portugal.↩
  3. In telegram 1245, April 25, 6 p.m., 1944, Minister Norweb reported British representations to the Portuguese Foreign Office in regard to this matter (864.01/549).↩