Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, Europe, Volume IV

861.014/5–644

Memorandum by Mr. Elbridge Durbrow of the Division of Eastern European Affairs to the Secretary of State

[Washington,] May 6, 1944.

Mr. Secretary:

The Question of Northern Bukovina

In June 1940, the Soviet Union presented an ultimatum to Rumania demanding the incorporation of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and a small area of Northern Moldavia into the Soviet Union. The ultimatum was accepted by Rumania, and the transfer of territory took place.⁵³

Both Northern Bukovina and Eastern Galicia (the southeastern corner of Poland) represent areas which never formed part of the Czarist empire and, therefore, the Soviet claims to these areas are not based upon historical reasons.

By acquiring Eastern Galicia and Bukovina, the Soviet Union secured a strong frontier on the Carpathians and gave it a common frontier with Czechoslovakia. It is apparently for this reason that the Soviet authorities demanded this territory in 1940. The only logical claims which the Soviets might have to this area is based on the fact that approximately 50% of the inhabitants of Bukovina are Ukrainians. There is little economic importance in the possession of Northern Bukovina.

Although this territory never formed part of the Russian state until 1940, the Soviet Government has constantly claimed since that time that it forms an integral part of the Soviet Union,⁵⁴ and it may be expected that they will continue to hold this position. This probability is enhanced by the close ties which have been built up between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. Without this territory, and at least a good part of Eastern Galicia, the Soviet Union would not have a common frontier with their Czechoslovakian allies.

Elbridge Durbrow

53. With regard to the activities of the Soviet Union in the Balkans and the seizure of Bessarabia, see Foreign Relations, 1940, vol. i, pp. 444 ff.
54. Comments on the occasion of the third anniversary of the formation of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the cry that “Moldavia was and will be Soviet” had been sent by the Ambassador in the Soviet Union in telegram 999, August 2, 1943, Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. iii, p. 558.