Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1945, General: Political and Economic Matters, Volume II

800.4016 D.P./10–645

The British Minister (Makins) to the Director of the Office of European Affairs (Matthews)

Washington, October 6, 1945.

My Dear Mr. Matthews: The British members of the Combined Civil Affairs Committee were advised some weeks ago of the reports received by the United States Government from Mr. Earl Harrison regarding the conditions in displaced persons camps in the areas of Germany under United States and British control.⁹⁵ The conditions in these camps have been under careful examination by the British authorities in conjunction with the British element of the Control Commission in Germany who in turn have consulted the authorities in the United States zone. I have been asked to inform you of the conclusions reached as a result of this examination.

2. Mr. Harrison suggested that official policy seemed to be to force repatriation by unpleasantness of surroundings and conditions, but the British authorities have discovered no foundation for this contention. Displaced persons are given prior consideration over German civilians as regards accommodation and food, and this policy has continually been impressed on the authorities in the British zone. Arrangements for winter accommodation for displaced persons are now well advanced.

3. You will, I think, be aware that His Majesty’s Government are completely in accord with Mr. Harrison’s proposal that UNRRA should assume responsibility for the care and administration of displaced persons and displaced persons camps, and UNRRA has received every encouragement from the military authorities in the British Zone to this end. The rate at which it has been possible to proceed in this matter has been limited in the past by the numbers and quality of the UNRRA personnel available, but this position is now being rapidly improved. Further, the importance of arrangements for tracing and communicating with relatives is fully appreciated, and the British element of the Control Commission have set up a tracing bureau for this purpose. It is hoped that UNRRA will be able to assume responsibility for this function also in the near future.

4. With the exception of nationals of the U.S.S.R. whose repatriation is effected under the agreement concluded at Yalta,⁹⁶ and ex-enemy nationals, no persons are being or will be sent back to their country of origin unless they so desire. Displaced persons who are temporarily non-repatriable are being segregated on the basis of nationality. His Majesty’s Government are not, however, in favour of a policy of segregation of Jews or non-repatriables as such, since they are unwilling to recognise Nazi attempts to deprive Jews of their German or any other nationality, or Jewish attempts to regard Jews as possessing any separate or over-riding nationality of their own as distinct from their political nationality. It is also the present policy of His Majesty’s Government to look upon all displaced persons and refugees as ultimately repatriable until it has been proved finally and irrefutably that they are not repatriable. His Majesty’s Government cannot, therefore, concur in any measures which would have the effect of branding categories of displaced persons prematurely and permanently as non-repatriable. This, I am informed, was a most important factor in the debates on the question of displaced persons which took place at the Third Session of the UNRRA Council.⁹⁷ In conformity with the practice of segregating temporary non-repatriables into national groups, it is also the practice of the British military authorities to segregate persons who are in the strict juridical meaning of the term “stateless”. They do not, however, consider that the term “stateless” should be extended to cover that larger group who may not, for one reason or another, be repatriable at the present time but who, from the juridical point of view, have not lost their nationality.

5. It is realised that policy in the United States zone⁹⁸ as regards persons who are there termed “stateless” and who do not desire to return to their country of origin, differs from that in the British zone, but in the practice of segregation of Jews as such His Majesty’s Government do not feel able to modify their position. It is, of course, agreed that persons of Jewish race may in many cases need some special form of assistance, and it is considered that the proper remedy in such cases is to give Jewish relief workers full access to their coreligionists. Should it at any time prove necessary to appoint Jewish relief or liaison officers in camps or at higher administrative levels, these should where possible be provided from displaced persons or from Jewish relief teams already in Germany, and should work under UNRRA and under the same conditions as the UNRRA personnel. This would appear to be in accordance with the policy which was recently agreed upon between the military and UNRRA authorities in both the British and United States zones. This policy has been brought to the notice of the authorities in the British zone, who are in the process of developing it.

Yours sincerely,

Roger Makins

95. For the report of Earl G. Harrison to President Truman on Harrison’s mission to Europe to inquire into the conditions and needs of those among the displaced persons in the liberated countries of Western Europe and in the SHAEF area of Germany—with particular reference to Jewish refugees—who might possibly be stateless or non-repatriable, see Department of State Bulletin, September 30, 1945, p. 456: see also the following: letter of President Truman to General Eisenhower, August 31, transmitting Harrison’s report, ibid., p. 455; reply of General Eisenhower, October 8, ibid., October 21, 1945, p. 607; statement of President Truman on the situation of Jews in Europe, ibid., November 18, 1945, p. 790; letter addressed to British Prime Minister Attlee, August 31, transmitting Harrison’s report and urging that Jewish immigration to Palestine should not be closed, ibid., p. 790.
96. See footnote 28, p. 1161.
97. Held at London, August 7–25, 1945; for documentation, see pp. 958 ff.
98. As indicated in a directive of August 22, 1945, by General Eisenhower to the Commanding Generals of the Western and Eastern Military Districts, p. 1186.