Moscow Embassy Files: 840.1
The Deputy Peopled Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union (Dekanazov) to the Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kennan)25
Dear Mr. Chargé d’Affaires: In reply to Mr. Harriman’s letter of January 20, 194526 in which he set forth the position of the Government of the United States concerning the measures being taken by the Soviet military authorities with reference to Germans residing in Rumania, I have the honor to communicate to you the following:
The deportation from Rumania to the Soviet Union of a part of the German population which is taking place at the present time has no relation to the reparations problem and in particular to the question of the payment of reparations in the form of services as mentioned in your letter. This step also does not contemplate the reconstruction by the forces of the part of the German population sent to the Soviet Union of what was destroyed by the Germans on the territory of the [Page 1248] Soviet Union. This measure aims to clear the rear of the Red Army of that portion of the population among which the Nazi Espionage Service developed a particularly thick and numerous network of its agencies. The Soviet Command was obliged to resort to this measure which has an exclusively military character as a result of circumstances dictated by military necessity.
Please accept [etc.]