811.91262/322: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 24—10:50 a.m.]
736. Immediately upon receipt of Berlin’s telegram No. 2280 to the Department24 concerning Jay Allen, we asked the Foreign Office whether his status with the French authorities had undergone a change since the receipt of the information reported in our 576, May 19, 4 p.m. Today we were categorically informed that as far as the French authorities are concerned Allen’s status is unchanged since the drafting of the Foreign Office communication upon which our telegram under reference was based.
Questioned as to the German allegation that there existed a French judicial warrant of arrest for Allen, our Foreign Office informant replied, after inquiry of the Surêté, that such an order reposes in the hands of the competent state prosecutor but that it had not been and would not be given practical effect until the Germans had disposed of their case against Allen. He added that the latest information received from Chalon by Surêté indicated that “the Germans have not tried Allen, are unable to say when he will be tried and intimate that [Page 617] an exchange of Allen, presumably against some German detained in the United States, is under contemplation[”].
Repeated to Berlin.
- Supra. ↩