Newsgroups: alt.revisionism Subject: Holocaust Almanac - Rumanian Jews await their fate Summary: Antonescu deports 185,000 Jews to the Transnistria, while sending an offer to the world to save them... U.S. State Dept. scuttles the deal after interminable (and deliberate) delays, with more than a little help from the British. Followup-To: alt.revisionism Organization: The Nizkor Project, Vancouver Island, CANADA Keywords: Archive/File: places/usa/conspiracy.003 Last-modified: 1996/04/24 "...in February 1944, Rumania ... offered to save its Jews. Its dictator, Ion Antonescu had deported 185,000 Jews into the Transnistria, the barren area between the rivers Bug and Dnjestr. There they lived, or more exactly died, under the most inhuman conditions. There were hardly any living quarters, no food, no clothing to protect them from the icy winds that swept the plains. Daily many dozens died of starvation and others from the cold and exposure. On February 13, 1943, The New York Times carried a headline, 'Rumania Proposes Transfer of Jews.' In a report written by C.L. Sulzberger one of the owners of The New York Times, it stated that, in fact, Rumania offered to transfer for the amount of 20,000 Lei per person (about $2.40) 70,000 Jews from Transnistria 'to any refuge selected by the Allies.' The proposal was quite specific as to details. The released 70,000 would first be transferred to Bucharest where they would be accommodated in specially selected buildings, and they would then be brought by Rumanian ships flying either the Red Cross or, as arranged with the Catholic Archbishop of Bucharest, the Vatican flag, to any destination chosen by the Allies. Palestine, the proposal said, would be the most convenient location to bring them to, but other possibilities would be considered. It was assumed that these 70,000 were just the initial group, and that the others still alive in Transnistria would soon follow. What a chance - from the storm swept plains of Transnistria into freedom! The State Department must have known by February 13 of this opportunity, but it did not follow it up. On April 20, a message arrived in the State Department in which Riegner* asked for permission to issue a license to pay to Rumania, in Rumanian currency, the amount of $175,000 for freeing of those 70,000, a ridiculously small amount.... The issuance of a license to spend that money was in the jurisdiction of the Treasury and that office should - considering the urgency - have been informed by telephone. The whole matter, as Treasury officials later assured, could have been settled by phone in five minutes and the cable to the American Legation in Switzerland to issue the license could have been in Switzerland the same day. For two more months, from April 20 to late June, the State Department did nothing, but withheld information of that request for a license from the Treasury. The latter finally found out by a leak that such a request was being held back by the State Department. Though the Treasury urged fast positive action, it took 3 more weeks before a meeting between the Treasury Department and the State Department could be arranged. At this meeting, Mr. R. Borden Reams opposed granting that license because the matter would not work out anyhow. This, of course, was not a valid reason for not having the license ready in case it did work out. In fact showing such a license would prove to the Rumanians that the United States meant business. (This, however was exactly what was apparently to be prevented.) The request had been made and immediate action was required as one could not meaningfully negotiate without the license. There were no expenses involved for the United States as Jewish organizations would carry the expense. And it was made certain that no foreign funds would fall into Rumanian hands; all payments were to be made in Rumanian leis. Rabbi Wise discussed the Riegner plans with President Roosevelt, and the President approved of these plans. In spite of the presidential approval, Breckinridge Long _delayed_ the issuance of the license _for another 45 days_, claiming that it would bring dollars into the enemy's hands, although it had been made certain that payment would be made in foreign currency and although both the Treasury and the White House had approved the plan. _Five months had elapsed_ since the April 20 report and request by Riegner, before on September 28, the State Department sent a telegram to the Legation in Bern informing it that Treasury had granted the license. But the Minister there had learned what the attitude of his superiors was. He did not issue the license and telegraphed instead that the British opposed the whole deal for reasons of economic warfare. Still another delay. And in Transnistria people were dying like flies, and deportation to Auschwitz seemed the only possible alternative. Harrison's telegram regarding the British opposition to something that did not require British consent was, for the obstructionist conspirators in the State Department, a God-given chance for new delay. They did not inform the Treasury of this new complication, but the news of Harrison's telegram was leaked to Treasury by an unnamed source. Unfortunately communication with the Legation had to go via 'State', so the Treasury composed another telegram and gave it to the State Department for sending it to Harrison. It ordered Harrison to issue the license; Britain had no right to object and all measures to protect economic warfare interests had been effectively taken. Reams argued with the Treasury officials against ordering Harrison to issue the license, and his argument is, again, both provocative and absurd. He was against the entire action because it gave preference to a 'special group of enemy aliens' who alone were by that action being helped. Long however recognized that Reams' argument would not halt the action and - finally - on October 26 gave orders to Harrison in Bern to issue the license. This was _more than six months_ after the Treasury had been requested to issue that license, a procedure that could have been taken care of simply by telephone. But this is not yet the end of the so tragic story. As the economic warfare argument did not work because it was so demonstratively inapplicable, the British let the cat out of the bag, and the British Foreign Secretary, Eden, who in the course of the Holocaust came out several times with overtly anti-Semitic statements, cabled now the true reason for the British objection. Harrison still did not issue the license, allegedly because there was a change in the situation, as the British, who so far had expressed displeasure only, had now lodged a formal protest. Of this and of his still not issuing the license, Harrison informed his superiors in Washington only 17 days after receipt of the President-approved order. Eden, in, for a diplomat, unbelievably blunt manner, stated in fact that they did not want these Jews to be saved, and with this note he admitted the true reason for Britain's objection to the issuing of a license. The claim it would interfere with economic warfare aims had been only an excuse. This is the essense of the British message: The Foreign Office are concerned with the difficulties of _disposing_ of any considerable number of Jews should they be rescued from enemy occupied territory.... difficulties of transportation, particularly shipping and of finding accommodations in the countries of the Near East for any but a _very small number_ of Jewish refugees. They (the Foreign Office) foresee that it is likely to be almost if not entirely impssible to deal with anything like the number of 70,000 refugees whose rescue is envisaged by the Rigner plan. _For this reason_ they are reluctant to agree to any approval being expressed even of the preliminary financial arrangements. In speaking of difficulties of finding shipping, the British Foreign Office overlooks the fact that the Rumanians offered to supply the shipping." (Perl, 59-63) * Dr. Gerhard Riegner, representative in Switzerland of the American Jewish Congress. Work Cited Perl, William R. The Holocaust Conspiracy: An International Policy of Genocide. New York: Shapolsky Publishers, 1989
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