740.00115 PW/8–2345
The Minister in Switzerland (Harrison) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 30.]
The American Minister at Bern has the honor to refer to the Department’s telegram No. 2492 of August 8—8 p.m., with regard to the use of the term “hostage” by the Swiss Consul General at Shanghai in a recent report relating to American civilian internees in Japanese hands.
The Legation is now in receipt of a note dated August 21, from the Swiss Foreign Office which states that according to Consul General Fontanel there is no reason to fear that the internees transferred from the former camp of Haiphong Road to Peking may be subject to bad treatment. The Japanese military authorities of the latter region are anxious to surrender and to return prisoners and civilian internees to Allied authorities in as good condition as possible. Consul General Fontanel explains that he had used the expression “hostage” only to indicate that the internees in question had a status and condition differing from those of other internees and that the Japanese, therefore, attributed to them a particular value.