740.00119 Control (Rumania)/1–445: Telegram
The American Representative in Rumania (Berry) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 5—10:33 p.m.]
12. Obviously greatly disturbed Foreign Minister told me yesterday evening that General Vinogradov,9 in the name of the ACC,10 has demanded of the Prime Minister that the Rumanian Government prepare lists by January 15 of Rumanian nationals of German race, both men and women between the ages of 16 and 40, in order that they may be transported to the Soviet Union.
Soviet authorities at the same time requested 5,000 railway cars for the transport of these persons.
Rumanian Government has protested vigorously against this proposal as being completely outside of the armistice terms but realizes it may be forced to give the demanded lists in view of Soviet contention that the German minority is engaged in extensive espionage and is hindering the Russian war effort. Government’s suggestion that those Rumanian nationals of German race believed by Soviets to be dangerous be interned has been ignored. German nationals interned in Rumania and German Jewish refugees are considered temporarily unaffected by this demand. Today the Prime Minister sent me a message confirming these statements and adding that the status of the Hungarian minority is uncertain pending the outcome of the armistice talks between the Provisional Hungarian Government and the Soviets.11
This latest request appears to be the culminating point of a policy of deportation that the Soviets have applied to Rumania. It was first manifested in demands for the return of former residents of Bessarabia and northern Bucovina who were living there in June, 1940. (See my 39 of November 30, 8 a.m., and my No. 75 of December 23, 9 p.m.).12 These deportations, including thousands of persons [Page 1239] unwilling to return have continued despite the Rumanian Government’s spirited protests. A recent Radio Moscow broadcast said 36,000 people have returned to Bessarabia from Rumania and thousands more were “waiting” to return.
Next the application touched those persons, regardless of origin, who stated their “desire” to migrate to the Soviet Union and concurrently the White Russians in Rumania. This office was confidentially informed that toward the end of December the Soviet authorities presented to the Chief of Secret Police a list of 28 Rumanian nationals of Russian origin, that they wished to take. These persons have been arrested and have disappeared. Reportedly they did not participate in political activity. Rumanians naturally view this first White Russian list as a forerunner of others.
Finally, the application of the policy touches the physically vigorous element among the Rumanian Saxons and Swabians who have lived here for centuries. These people of German stock are of great economic importance to Rumania. Thus, quite aside from the humanitarian feelings that the threatened deportation arouses, the Rumanian Government foresees a grave dislocation in the country’s economic life by the removal of some 300,000 citizens. Additionally it fears that if it complies with this latest Soviet demand it will sound the death knell of Rumanian internal authority.
In Bucharest, even thoughtful people believe that the policy of deportation is a step in a larger Soviet plan to bring about the dissolution of the Rumanian State. (Please see my telegrams No. 42 of November 30, 6 p.m.,13 and No. 58 of December 12, 8 p.m.14). They are convinced that what is happening in Rumania forecasts future population movements from Germany and other central European countries to the Soviet Union with consequences to those countries similar to what is expected in Rumania.
From many Rumanians I have been sent appeals on behalf of Rumanian nationals forced to return to Bessarabia. Similar pleas on behalf of White Russians are now coming to me. It is inevitable that I will be deluged with petitions from some of the hundreds of thousands of people that will be affected if the declared Soviet intention to transport the youthful section of the German minority materializes.
From the beginning of the Bessarabian deportations the pleaders uniformly have based their hopes upon American political ideals of justice and freedom. They assume that what is being done in Rumania in the name of the ACC is being done upon agreement among the Soviet, British and American authorities. In view of this, I believe [Page 1240] that as an armistice signatory the American Government cannot escape its share of censure in Rumanian eyes if large scale deportations are permitted to continue.
Repeated to Moscow as 4.
- Lt. Gen. Vladimir Petrovich Vinogradov, Deputy Chairman (Soviet) of the Allied Control Commission for Rumania.↩
- Allied Control Commission.↩
- An armistice agreement between the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States on the one hand and Hungary on the other was signed at Moscow, January 20, 1945; for text of the agreement, see Department of State Executive Agreement Series No. 456. or 59 Stat. (pt. 2) 1321. For documentation on the negotiations leading to the agreement, see Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. iii. pp. 847 ff.↩
- Neither printed.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. iv, p. 280.↩