Difficulties in reducing to final written form the modified Schacht emigration plan is keeping the Rublee mission in Berlin over the weekend, probably until the middle of the week. A spokesman for the mission declared that prolongation of the negotiations did not furnish grounds for pessimism and denied that Dr. Helmut Wohlthat, of the Economics Ministry, was engaging in “obstructionist tactics.”
“There has been no sudden fundamental reversal of the Reich’s position on the question since Dr. Wohlthat succeeded Dr. Schacht,” the spokesman continued. “We are proceeding along the lines laid down by Dr. Schacht. Our difficulties are primarily concerned with language.”
How great the difficulties are may be deduced from the fact that Friday’s session, which began late in the afternoon, continued until 11 p.m. Both sides are maintaining extreme reticence on the nature of the emigration plan. Neutral observers express “very modest optimism” on the outcome, and are looking forward to a proposal which, within a limited field, might prove useful and acceptable to the Evian powers.
While Director George Rublee of the Intergovernmental Refugee Bureau has not contacted Jewish representatives since his arrival in Berlin, it is understood that certain Reich authorities are tapping Jewish sources for statistics on emigration training, presumably in connection with the negotiations.
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