France The United States Recognizes de Gaulle and his committee. Until February 1944 the United States had refused to acknowledge de Gaulle as the head of state, even though de Gaulle had proclaimed his government in October 1943 following the successful completion of Allied military operations in North Africa. Attempting to avoid potential embarrassment, the State Department declared that no change in policy had occurred. The liberal New York daily PM printed the following story reset here about the recognition of de Gaulle on 9 February 1944. State Dept. Finds There's a de Gaulle Policy Will Change, but No One Will Admit It PM's Foreign Editor WASHINGTON, Feb. 9.-If you like a nice, little, quiet laugh from time to time, it might be fun to watch how the State Dept. is preparing the American public for a change in our policy toward the French in North Africa without admitting it's a change. For a change is on the way. Not a sweeping change, of course, which would be the slightest admission of error, but a change in atmosphere, nevertheless, which all to the good. French circles in Washington are hoping for something more concrete than that, but important steps can be expected in putting Franco-American relations on a better basis than that of mutual distrusts and suspicions. British Warm The British have broken the ice pretty successfully. Churchill visited de Gaulle and sent him a congratulatory message on the heroism of French soldiers in the Italian campaign. And yesterday Sir John Anderson, Chancellor of the Exchequer, told the House of Commons that the British had concluded mutual aid and financial pacts with the French Committee at Algiers. He said he hoped they would form the "foundations of a lasting monetary agreement between the United Kingdom and France.' Sir John said that the financial agreement followed the lines of the Anglo-French financial pact of 1939 which regulated the exchange rate between the British pound and the French franc and settled problems of foreign exchange control. Later from Algiers came a statement from Pierre Mendes-France, FiInance Minister of the French Committee, announcing that similar negotiations were under way with the U. S. A. There was no comment from the State Dept. on the French Finance Minister's statement, but it was reliably learned that the agreements are pretty well completed and may have reached President Roosevelt's desk by this time. No Complaints There have been strong signs within the past week or so that the State Dept. was getting ready to shift its position on the French committee which up to now has been getting a pretty cold shoulder. Far be it from me to complain of a shift, but the elaborate preparations being made to make sure that no one can think that the Department could possibly have been wrong would be funny if they didn't hold the germ of further misunderstandings. For the explanations, thus far, have all had a supercilious hint that the French have come around at last instead of the other way about. William Philip Simms, writing in the Washington News, for instance, had this to say of the prospective change: "To speak of this development as a new American policy, however, would be in error. American policy has never wavered. It has favored the closest co-operation with the Free French, in North Africa, but the obstacles posed by their leader, Gen Charles de Gaulle, have been more than Washington could hurdle. "Now the situation has changed for the better. Not only has Gen. de Gaulle become less critical of the Allies and his own immediate associates, but the Consultative Assembly set up in Algiers last Autumn helps to make the North African group more representative.... . This policy has nothing to do with the person of de Gaulle. It would have been the same had there been no such figure or if another had headed a Free French movement. Washington simply did not wish Frenchmen ever to be able to accuse it of forcing upon them a government not of their own choosing." It All Adds Up What it all adds up to is that it is perfectly apparent that de Gaulle and the Committee are there to stay and we might as well get along with them. One aspect of the editorial opinion in the United States puzzling French circles in Washington is the continued reference to the possibility of recognizing the Committee as a provisional government. It is contended that the Algiers Committee has never asked for such recognition; that the great issue at stake is whether the authority of the Committee will be recognized in France. When the Algiers Committee was set up on June 3d, its communique read: "The French Committee of National Liberation shall exercise its functions until such date when the state of liberation of territory will permit the formation of a provisional government in accordancewith the laws of the republic The Committee will then transfer its powers to such a provisional government. This date will be, at the latest, that of the total liberation of territory.' The French say there have been no changes in this position. Plan to Save Jews For Refugee Board PM's Bureau WASHINGTON, Feb. 9.-The Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe will shortly present a comprehensive program to the War Refugee Board including a proposal that the U.S.A. make a declaration of policy "regarding the Jews, along the lines of the Moscow declaration on atrocities." The memorandum also will ask that diplomatic pressure be put by the U.S.A. on the governments of Bulgaria, Rumania, and other Axis satellite states to help the remaining Jews of Europe to escape from Hitler. The plan proposes that these countries be informed that forced deportation of Jews into Hitler's hands is tantamount to murdering them and will be considered as such. The Refusal to Return Jewish Property After the liberation of France, many Jews returned to find that they were unable to reclaim their prewar businesses and properties. During the German occupation, most Jewishowned businesses were sold at arbitrarily low prices to nonJewish Frenchmen to avoid seizure by the Germans. Following the war the new owners were reluctant to return such properties. Indeed, some current owners of Jewish businesses were using Nazi antisemitic propaganda to protest against the restitution of these properties to their original Jewish owners. The following articles from the New York Post (27 and 31 October 1944) report about this controversy and preparations by the French government to take action against such antisemitic factions. Refuse to Return Stores to Jews Paris, Oct. 27 (Reuter)—About | order for the return to Jewish they would have been liquidated There already have been dis turbances where Jewish citizens have tried to retake possession of their prewar business prem ises. The government faces a dell cate problem since undoubtedly some of the new owners are war widows, refugees from Alsace, or people who have been bombed. out in other French areas. The solution proposed by the association is to treat Jews who lost their businesses as a result of Vichy anti-Semitic laws as if they had been bombed out. This would entitle them to government compensation. |