740.00119 P.W./7–1345
Memorandum by the Acting Director of the Office of Strategic Services ( Cheston ) to the Secretary of State
The following information, received from Mr. Allen Dulles in Wiesbaden, dated 12 and 13 July, concerns a new Japanese attempt to approach Allied authorities through OSS representatives in Switzerland:
Per Jacobsson, a Swedish national and economic adviser to the Bank for International Settlements, has been approached by Kojiro Kitamura, a director of the Bank, a representative of the Yokohama Specie Bank and former financial attaché in Berlin. Kitamura indicated to Jacobsson that he was anxious to establish immediate contact with American representatives and implied that the only condition on which Japan would insist with respect to surrender would be some consideration for the Japanese Imperial family. Kitamura showed that he was completely familiar with OSS operations which led to the surrender of German forces in North Italy, and declared that he wished to establish a contact similar to that made by General Karl Wolff.
According to Jacobsson, Kitamura is acting with the consent of the Japanese Minister to Switzerland, Shunichi Kase, and is working with Brigadier General Kiyotomi Okamoto, a former Japanese Military Attaché in Bern. [Okamoto is probably the chief of Japanese [Page 489] intelligence in Europe.]16 Kitamura claims that the Japanese group in Switzerland has direct communications with Tokyo and is in a position to make definite commitments.
(Responsible OSS cut-out sources who talked with Jacobsson at Basel believe that the Kitamura approach was initiated locally rather than on the basis of instructions from Tokyo. Hence it is difficult to assess the seriousness of the approach.
(The OSS representative in Bern reports that Jacobsson has urgently requested him to come to Basel to see him this coming weekend. The OSS representative has declined the invitation but has told Jacobsson that he could see him in Bern on Sunday, 15 July. The OSS representative in Bern will see Jacobsson only to obtain such intelligence as Jacobsson is able to give, and expects to treat the entire matter with the greatest caution and reserve.)
- Brackets appear in the original.↩