124.613/2–345
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Harriman ) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 17.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s instruction No. 408 of January 10, 194554 (file no. 124.613/12–1144), requesting [Page 1149] information concerning the welfare of Valentine Serge Malitsky,55 who was arrested in 1936 by the Soviet authorities and sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
Previous to the receipt of the Department’s instruction, the Embassy had written to the Foreign Office, on November 24, 1944, with regard to Mr. Malitsky. A copy of the letter in question is enclosed. A second letter on the subject, of which a copy is also enclosed, was written on February 6, 1945.56
A letter has now been received from the Chief of the American Section of the Foreign Office,57 dated February 16, 1945, which states that “according to information received recently by the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs from the appropriate Soviet authorities, V. S. Malitski continues to serve out the term of his sentence.”58
Respectfully yours,
First Secretary of Embassy
- Not printed.↩
- Valentin Sergeyevich Malitsky had been a Soviet employee of the Embassy. For earlier interest by the United States in this case, see Foreign Relations, The Soviet Union, 1933–1939, p. 319.↩
- Enclosures not printed.↩
- Semen Konstantinovich Tsarapkin.↩
- This information was sent to Mrs. Malitsky, who then requested that a message be sent for her husband and in addition asked for the assistance of the Department of State in obtaining permission from Soviet authorities to write to him. Mrs. Malitsky’s message and request were brought to the attention of the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs in a note from the Embassy in Moscow. When no answer had been forthcoming, the Embassy renewed the request for permission to allow Mrs. Malitsky to write directly to her husband, but had to inform the Department that the Foreign Commissariat only replied in a note of October 19 that Mrs. Malitsky should apply direct to the appropriate Soviet organizations in any matters concerning her husband. (124.613/10–2345)↩