862.20235/7–2446
The Ambassador in Argentina (Messersmith) to the Secretary of State
No. 429
[Received August 2.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a translation of a Note dated June 15, 194681 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship forwarding a list of schools, both German and Japanese, which have been closed by the Argentine authorities.
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I do not wish in this despatch to cover the question of enemy property and enemy subjects as these will be covered in separate despatches. I shall confine myself in this despatch to schools and institutions.
After a very careful study of the basic data I now can inform the Department that a full survey of the situation with respect to German and Japanese schools and institutions in the Argentine leads to the [Page 283] definite conclusion that the Argentine Government has substantially complied with its commitments in this respect under Resolution VII of the Final Act of the Mexico City Conference. I am unable to state definitely to the Department why in this particular field the Argentine Government proceeded with more vigor and more effectiveness than it has so far in the field of enemy property and subjects, but I venture the opinion that it was because it was easier under Argentine law and procedure to take this action than against enemy property and subjects.
I may say that, in addition to the fifty-three German and Japanese schools listed in the enclosure to this despatch, which cover the important schools, this Embassy has information that twenty-five others have been closed or intervened or have voluntarily ceased activity. All Japanese schools in the Argentine known to this Embassy are included in the foregoing figures.
A survey by the Office of the Legal Attaché shows that an additional forty-two German schools were also closed and there is reason to believe that probably the major number of these were closed voluntarily and not as a result of direct action of the Argentine Government but rather as a result of the direct action taken against more important schools.
The information in the possession of the Legal Attaché of the Embassy and of the Embassy shows that some sixty Axis institutions, not including organizations which existed merely for the operation of schools, have been intervened, taken possession of, or their corporate licenses cancelled. As a matter of fact, we have reason to believe that there may be even more such institutions in this category in which action has been taken but on which complete data are not available in the Embassy. I would like to state in this connection that the institutions and organizations mentioned in this paragraph include the important German clubs in the Argentine.
The information in the possession of the Embassy with respect to a few schools would indicate that the action taken may not have been as complete as might be desired, but there is, however, no evidence that Nazi principles or doctrine are being taught in any of the existing schools under their new organization and operation. In these several cases the Embassy has informally brought to the attention of the Foreign Office the facts as known or reported to the Embassy, but the information in the possession of the Embassy has not been of a sufficiently definite character to indicate that the action taken by the Argentine authorities has not been adequate. It should also be pointed out that in the case of these few schools they are licensed and supervised by the Government, succeeding former German schools, and it must be assumed in the absence of evidence to the contrary that adequate [Page 284] safeguards have been taken with respect to the operation of and the teaching in these schools.
From time to time the Department has sent information to the Embassy which it has gathered from various sources which would indicate that there were some 215 Axis schools (15 Japanese and 200 German) in the Argentine. The Embassy is inclined to doubt the accuracy of this figure of 215 schools, as it has been able to locate, after careful inquiry and surveys, only about 125 of this number and in which adequate action, as above indicated, has been taken. There is good reason to believe that most of the remainder were small, what are known here as “family” schools, which are not required to register with the Argentine school authorities. It will be remembered that outside of the few large centers of population in the Argentine the population is very sparse and scattered, and these so-called “family” schools exist where instruction may be given to a very small group of students, sometimes only the children in a particular family. It is believed that some of these “family” schools were undoubtedly in the Province of Entre Rios, as in 1937 a Nazi Party publication referred to 3500 students and 100 teachers in that province and indicated that a large proportion were in such “family” schools. I would like to observe in this connection that the statement of 3500 students and 100 teachers in this Nazi Party publication could not be taken too seriously.
So far as the remainder of these schools (believed to be mostly “family” schools) are concerned, there is reason to believe that they are no longer in existence, as the information which we have is that most of these small German schools closed voluntarily with the rupture of diplomatic relations, Germany’s defeat and the discontinuance of the financial support of such organizations as the Auslandsinstitut.
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Respectfully yours,
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