711.62114/10–644
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Eastern European Affairs (Bohlen)
During his call this morning, the Soviet Counselor81 said that the Embassy had received information that in a number of prisoner-of-war camps throughout the country there were considerable numbers of Soviet citizens. He gave the following list of camps and the estimated number of Soviet prisoners:
| Camp Dix | 400 |
| Camp Winchester, Va. | 350 |
| Camp Daleville, Ala. | 146 |
| Camp Opelika, Ala. | 34 |
| One Camp in Arkansas | 180 |
Mr. Kapustin said that the Ambassador had asked him to request the State Department to obtain permission for a representative of the Embassy to visit these camps in order to verify this information and interview these Soviet citizens.
I asked Mr. Kapustin if the Embassy had any detailed information as to the names of the individuals said to be Soviet citizens or other information in confirmation thereof. He said they had merely “heard” of the presence of this number of Soviet citizens in these camps and had no further details and that it was for this reason that the request was made to permit a Soviet representative to visit the camps.
I told Mr. Kapustin I would, of course, transmit the Ambassador’s request to the appropriate authorities and then went on to tell him that we hoped in the near future to send a reply to the Soviet Embassy’s notes on this general subject setting forth in detail the position of the American military authorities on this whole question. I said that I felt that this reply would clarify the entire question of Soviet nationals captured in German uniforms. Mr. Kapustin inquired whether [Page 1261] the United States Government made any attempt to ascertain the nationality of the prisoners captured in order to separate Allied nationals from Germans. I said that as far as I was aware and in accordance with the Geneva Convention all persons captured in enemy uniform were treated as prisoners of war in accordance with the provisions of that Convention, and that only when the person himself laid claim to other than German nationality was a distinction made. I said in every case as far as I was aware when a person captured in German uniform laid claim to citizenship of an Allied country, his name and statement were immediately referred to the mission in Washington of that country, and reminded him that the Soviet Embassy had been immediately notified when any of the prisoners claimed Soviet nationality.
- Alexander Nikolayevich Kapustin.↩