860F.4016/6–2845
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Memorandum
The Department of State has considered the telegram of June 22, 1945 (512/15/45) from the Foreign Office to the Embassy and the draft instructions to Ambassador Nichols in Praha (6652, June 22, 194553).
The views of the United States with regard to the transfer of minorities from Czechoslovakia were made known to the Czechoslovak Government on January 31, 1945, in answer to its note of November 23, 1944, in the following terms:
[Here follow paragraphs 2, 3, and 4 of the quoted portion of instruction No. 41, January 16, to the Chargé near the Czechoslovak Government in Exile at London, printed on page 1246.]
[Page 1263]Inasmuch as there has been no reason to alter these views since they were communicated to the Czechoslovak Government, the Department of State is in agreement with the draft instructions to Ambassador Nichols that the determination of the method and timing of the repatriation of the Reich Germans now in Czechoslovakia and the transfer of the German minority in Czechoslovakia must be left to the Allied Control Council in Germany.
Since the receipt of the Foreign Office telegram, a note, dated July 3, 1945, has been received from the Czechoslovak Government stating that, since the Allied States had made no objection in principle to the proposed transfer of the German and Hungarian minorities, the Czechoslovak Government was preparing a plan for an organised and orderly transfer.
The Department’s reply54 to the Czechoslovak note reiterates the views of the United States, as set forth above, and requests the Czechoslovak Government to bring its plan for the repatriation of Reich Germans and the transfer of the minorities immediately to the attention of the Allied States represented on the Control Council in Germany and the Control Commission in Hungary through the appropriate Czechoslovak Coordinating Missions attached to these bodies.
The Department of State believes that an exchange of views on the whole question of the transfers of ethnic minority groups in Europe is not required at this time in view of the clear statements of policy by the British and American Governments, and could be deferred pending a possible discussion of this question at the forthcoming tripartite conference.