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3/14/54: Reel 1, Track 2, Page 13
we informed the prisoners about it and then went ahead with the screening,
so that it's a curious thing that that happened, because the importance
they attached to this as a matter of principle seemed to waiver for a
moment at that point. Perhaps they thought that we greatly overestimated
it.
MR. NITZE:
I an sure they did. They denied that we had turned back--I forget what the
figure was, but my recollection is 115,000 or something like that.
MR. JESSUP:
107, I think
MR. RUSK:
Welly weren't we ourselifes surprised at the numbers that said they would
never turn back?
MR. NITZE:
We were just horrified when we got the reports back, just horrified.
MR. RUSK:
Is that the right word? (Laughing) Because this is a record.
MR. ACHESON:
Well, it seemed to us that the figures were so great that it made this
problem almost impossible of solution. In the first screening, which
involved 106,000 prisoners, 70,000 were available far return and 36,000
said that they would not return. Wie then screened the remaining prisoners,
the
who at that time were all in the Communist camps, and refused to allow any-
G ,
and
one in; but after that was broken up and peoplé were able to go in,
U.S.
another 13,000 said that they would go back. So that out of all the
pri soners some 120,000-odd, 83,000 said they'd go back, and this very
large number said they wouldn't go back. And that really faced us with
the full problem.
MR. RUSK:
And shouldn't it be said also, Dean, that this had not been preceded by
.
a highly systematic effort of indoctrinating the prisoners. By and large,
this represented an expression of their view without an intensive indoc-
trination period.
MR. ACHESON:
I think that is correct. The Indians never ** believed that. They thought
that so far as the Korean prisoners were concerned Syngman Rhee had gotten
in there with his secret police and had given them a working over and
that so far as the Chinese were concerned the same thing had been done by
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"ocrText": "3/14/54: Reel 1, Track 2, Page 13\nwe informed the prisoners about it and then went ahead with the screening,\nso that it's a curious thing that that happened, because the importance\nthey attached to this as a matter of principle seemed to waiver for a\nmoment at that point. Perhaps they thought that we greatly overestimated\nit.\nMR. NITZE:\nI an sure they did. They denied that we had turned back--I forget what the\nfigure was, but my recollection is 115,000 or something like that.\nMR. JESSUP:\n107, I think\nMR. RUSK:\nWelly weren't we ourselifes surprised at the numbers that said they would\nnever turn back?\nMR. NITZE:\nWe were just horrified when we got the reports back, just horrified.\nMR. RUSK:\nIs that the right word? (Laughing) Because this is a record.\nMR. ACHESON:\nWell, it seemed to us that the figures were so great that it made this\nproblem almost impossible of solution. In the first screening, which\ninvolved 106,000 prisoners, 70,000 were available far return and 36,000\nsaid that they would not return. Wie then screened the remaining prisoners,\nthe\nwho at that time were all in the Communist camps, and refused to allow any-\nG ,\nand\none in; but after that was broken up and peoplé were able to go in,\nU.S.\nanother 13,000 said that they would go back. So that out of all the\npri soners some 120,000-odd, 83,000 said they'd go back, and this very\nlarge number said they wouldn't go back. And that really faced us with\nthe full problem.\nMR. RUSK:\nAnd shouldn't it be said also, Dean, that this had not been preceded by\n.\na highly systematic effort of indoctrinating the prisoners. By and large,\nthis represented an expression of their view without an intensive indoc-\ntrination period.\nMR. ACHESON:\nI think that is correct. The Indians never ** believed that. They thought\nthat so far as the Korean prisoners were concerned Syngman Rhee had gotten\nin there with his secret police and had given them a working over and\nthat so far as the Chinese were concerned the same thing had been done by"
}