Johnson Message to Hull Regarding
Assignment of Wallenberg to Budapest
(June 12, 1944)
Herschel V. Johnson, U.S. Minister in Sweden, to
Cordell Hull, Secretary of State,
on the Cooperation of the Swedish
Foreign Office in Assigning Raoul
Wallenberg to Budapest:
MAE-910 Stockholm
Distribution of true reading only by special arrangement.
Dated June 29, 1944
(SECRET-W)
Recd 6:35 a.m.
Secretary of State,
Washington.
2360, June 28, 9 p.m.
THIS IS NO. 40 FOR WAR REFUGEE BOARD.
Reference is made to our No.31 for War
Refugee Board (Legations 2231, June 27, 11 PM, with respect to cooperation
of Swedish Foreign Office on assigning an attache to its legation in
Budapest for the purpose of furthering the relief and rescue of refugees.
We should emphasize that the Swedish Foreign Office
in making this assignment feels that it has cooperated fully in lending
all possible facilities for the furtherance of an American program.
It is not likely, however, that it will provide the newly appointed
attache with a concrete program; but instead will probably give him
rather general instructions which will not be sufficiently specific
to enable him to deal promptly and effectively with situations as they
develop in Hungary. The newly
designated attache, Raoul
Wallenberg, feels however that he, in effect, is carrying out a
humanitarian mission in behalf of the War Refugee Board. Consequently
he would like full instructions as to the line of activities he is authorized
to carry out and assurances of adequate financial support for these
activities so that he will be in a position to develop fully all local
possibilities. We are very favorably impressed with Wallenbergs ability
to act intelligently and with discretion in carrying out any responsibilities
that the WRB may delegate to him and urge strongly that appropriate
instructions be forwarded as soon as possible. Arrangements have been
made to communicate with him in Budapest through the Swedish Foreign
Office and vice versa and it should be possible for us to keep currently
informed on developments in Hungary.
JOHNSON
Source: David S. Wyman (ed.), "America
and the Holocaust. War Refugee Board: Hungary," Vol. 8, Garland
Publishing, Inc., 1990, p. 54.
Yad
Vashem
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