Office of the Historian

864.01/7–344: Telegram

The Consul General at Istanbul (Berry) to the Secretary of State 71

Istanbul, July 3, 1944—4 p.m.
[Received 8:09 p.m.]

385R86. Direct reliable information from Budapest indicates Sztojay made most emphatic request for establishment of full Hungarian sovereignty during recent visit to Hitler. Sztojay argued that Hungary’s position, even among the satellite nations, is inferior, and listed following ways in which sovereignty of Hungary has been infringed:

1.
Activities of Gestapo72 in Hungary, carried out without knowledge and against will of Hungarian Government.
2.
Use of title, Special Commissioner of the Führer, by the German Minister in Hungary,73 a title ordinarily used in occupied countries such as Denmark, and not in Allied countries such as Bulgaria or Rumania.
3.
German control, without Hungarian permission or cooperation, of all traffic in and out of Hungary.
4.
Arrest of Badoglio officials by Gestapo in violation of right of asylum.

Sztojay informed Hitler that position of his Government has been seriously undermined by continuing charges within Hungary that it lacks full sovereignty.

In contrast to position taken in conversations with Hitler, Sztojay is making strong attempt to secure acceptance of new Hungarian Ministers by Sweden, Switzerland, and Portugal and Spain, claiming present Government enjoys full sovereignty and is therefore entitled to replace diplomats now aligned with Allies.

[Page 878]

Hungarian circles here urge strong Allied representations to neutral powers against acceptance of new Hungarian diplomats and state that refusal of neutrals to accept new diplomats on plea that present Government lacks sovereignty would sharply accelerate developing demoralization within Hungary.

Repeated to Amrep Algiers74 as my No. 35 and true reading sent to MacVeagh in Cairo.75

Berry
  1. Substance of this telegram was sent to Stockholm, Madrid, Lisbon, and Naples in telegrams 1385, 1960, 1978, and 352, respectively, July 12, 7 p.m., and to Bern as 2396, July 13, 2 p.m.↩
  2. Geheime Staatspolizei (German Secret Police).↩
  3. Edmund Veesenmayer.↩
  4. Selden Chapin.↩
  5. Lincoln MacVeagh, Ambassador near the Greek and Yugoslav Governments in Exile.↩