811.91262/218: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 29—10:35 a.m.]
940. [From Paris.] Reference Paris telegram 895, March 24: Action outlined has been taken by both American Press Association and Embassy. In my communication to German Embassy, dated March 25, I stated that it was my understanding that the general practice of the military authorities at the line of demarcation is to impose only mild penalties on those persons who clandestinely cross the demarcation line, and that I also understood that of the 60 or more persons arrested in the same vicinity as Allen on the day that he was arrested nearly all have been released either upon the payment of a fine or the completion of a short prison sentence.
The Paris representative of the German Propaganda Ministry orally informed the Press Association yesterday that Allen “would not be subjected either to worse or better treatment because of being a newspaperman or an American.” He refused, however, to clarify this [Page 604] statement in any way and the representative of the press made no mention of my understanding that most of the others arrested at the same time as Allen had now been released. Barnes.