840.48/3306: Telegram

The Chargé in Germany (Kirk) to the Secretary of State

455. My 385, February 13, 3 p.m. I was informed at the Foreign Office today that a communication had been sent to the German Embassy at Washington outlining the decision on the part of the German authorities in regard to the administration of relief in Poland originating in the United States.10 The Foreign Office official stated to me that it was impossible for the authorities to grant permission for a permanent American relief committee in the Government General particularly at a time when the authorities found it necessary to withdraw foreign representation in Warsaw. The authorities, however, I was told would consent to a system whereby each shipment of relief supplies, of which it was said up to the present there have been only two, would be accompanied by a representative of a relief organization and that the representative would remain at the place of destination in order to supervise the allocation and distribution of those supplies. Upon the conclusion of that distribution or series of overlapping distributions the representative would withdraw. It was added that the Health Offices of the relief organization could be established in Berlin and that the representatives accompanying the shipments and supervising the distribution thereof would be accorded without delay necessary permits to proceed to the destination of the supplies.

I am acquainting the representatives of the American Red Cross, Commission for Polish Relief, Inc., and the Mennonite organization with the foregoing.

Kirk
  1. See telegram No. 339, February 22, 8 p.m., to the Chargé in the United Kingdom, infra.