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CONFIDENTIAL -- Not for Publication. For information only.
April 26, 1920.
My dear Wilbur: --
I return herewith the copies of the correspondence with the American Red Cross, et al. in regard to the Siberian prisoners.
I attended the Meeting on Saturday, and had a nice chat with Fred Keppel and the others, including the Countess Szechenyi, who was Gladys Vanderbilt. It seems that there are from 12,000 to 14,000, all Austrians or Hungarians, with perhaps a few Turks. The idea is to deliver them at Trieste and then forget them, at a cost of $210.00 each which includes Government ration on the passage. Contributions so far received have been from the Joint Distribution Committee of the Jews, $250,000; The Red Cross, $250,000; and the American Relief Committee for Hungarian Sufferers, $300,000. It seems that the Dieners, i.e., those who had been employed by The Red Cross or the American Forces, have already been started on their way home. The Germans, Mr. Keppel has been told, are either all on their way across Siberia afoot or on open trucks, or on their way by water, their Government having made some arrangements with the Japanese Government for their repatriations.
Keppel has inquired of their people in France, but they have not heard of any sanitary precautions being taken on those who were going overland. Of course, there is a regular delousing station that they would all have to be passed through before going on the ships to be repatriated.
The Austrians here in New York are organizing into a special committee for this repatriation of the prisoners. The Soviet Russian Government has announced its assumption of responsibility for the Russian prisoners within their jurisdiction, but Keppel says that he has not heard anything further. But the representative of the Joint Distribution, who has just returned from Vladivostok, says that he had heard some time ago of prisoners arriving at Ekaterinburg. It seems that the Poles, according to Keppel, are also looking after their Nationals.
We were visited by the Commission of the Hungarian Government which is on its way to Vladivostok, due to arrive there by June first, in an attempt to settle this situation. They spoke to us about the terrific conditions that obtain there, saying that about sixty [percent] of the men had become tubercular and a large percentage were already insane or complete wrecks.
It was rumored that the Austrian Government had chartered one ship of the Messagerie Maritimes for 200,000 [page 2] francs (French), but Keppel had not heard of it, -- this to repatriate about two thousand of the Austrians.
Keppel stated that the American Red Cross had in its Siberian Budget about $200,000 for clothing; and had provided clothing for all prisoners in the eastern end of Siberia, which was all that they could reach. He told me privately that they were having a frightfully complicated time out there with about $4,000,000 worth of supplies, in view of the inability to deliver them to Soviet Russia, Zemstoff, etc., etc., and now in addition, Japan.
He stated that if this Joint Committee wanted to arrange any detail about the transports after he, Keppel, had gone abroad -- which will be this week, to stay mostly in London, -- that we should write to Colonel Baker, Transportation Department of the War Department.
He told one of the Red Cross embarrassments which was “nuts” to me. It seems that when [Kolchak] was on the European side of the Urals, a lot of children of Bourgeois families which had been sent out from St. Petersburg, Moscow, etc., for safety in the country, supposedly under governesses and caretakers, had gotten entirely out of hand and were not being caretaken. The Red Cross representative had collected them, and as [Kolchak] moved back beyond the Urals, had taken the decision of putting the children on trains and sending them on behind his lines, housing them in barracks, having them washed, etc., and other details of childcare. As the optimistic Mr. [Kolchak] moved toward Vladivostok in easy stages, the children were also transported, and the Red Cross now has on its hands at Vladivostok about five hundred children of formerly well-to-do families; and the Soviet Government is naturally accusing the American Government of kidnapping children. Why not? The facts would certainly indicate it.
Keppel told us this as an indication of how bad transportation was on the Trans-Siberian, as they had decided it was impossible to repatriate them overland and were chartering a ship and sending them around to Finland.
In fact, the Committee Meeting was so interesting that I am glad I gave up my Saturday afternoon in the country, even with the crying demands of garden and fruit trees.
It was decided to call the committee “The Siberian War Prisoners Repatriation Fund,” and we are asking Charles D. Norton of the First National Bank here to act as Treasurer. Mr. Fischl continues to act as Secretary. As soon as we get $1,000,000 -- already $800,000 has been subscribed -- we will show the War Department our money and actually reserve the transports which are at present occupied in repatriating the Czecho-Slavs.
Thy friend very truly,
(sgd) L. HOLLINGSWORTH WOOD.
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