Telegram to Secretary of State from American Legation at Bern, Switzerland with Confidential Note
8/11/1942
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This telegram from the American Legation at Bern, Switzerland to the Secretary of State describes a message that Gerhart M. Riegner, Secretary of the World Jewish Congress, wanted to share concerning upcoming plans to exterminate the Jewish population of Germany and German occupied Europe "in one blow" the following fall using "prussic acid." Riegner wanted details to be shared with the State Department and Dr. Stephen Wise, President of the World Jewish Congress.
In a confidential note attached to this telegram, US Ambassador to Switzerland Leland Harrison called Riegner's report as having the "earmarks of war rumor inspired by fear." Instead, he believed the actual miserable conditions of Jewish refugees that were facing death to be the result of "physical maltreatment persecution and scarcely endurable privations malnutrition and disease."
Riegner's message was not forwarded to Stephen Wise via the State Department, however. Riegner's message did make its way to Stephen Wise by the end of August 1942--Riegner had shared the same details with the British Consulate in Geneva.
This primary source comes from the General Records of the Department of State, 1763 - 2002.
National Archives Identifier:
6101792Full Citation: Telegram to Secretary of State from American Legation at Bern, Switzerland with Confidential Note; 8/11/1942; 862.4016/2233; 862.4016; Central Decimal Files; General Records of the Department of State, 1763 - 2002, Record Group 59; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/telegram-secretary-of-state-american-legation-bern-holocaust, May 4, 2024]