Volume 6 1939~1941


Doc No.
Date
Subject

No. 80 NAI DFA Washington Embassy Confidential Reports 1938-9

Confidential report from Robert Brennan to Joseph P. Walshe (Dublin)
(108/68/39) (Copy)

Washington, 1 December 1939

Today I called on the Minister for Finland1 to express my sympathy with him in his country's plight.2 He said he appreciated my action very much, that Ireland's long struggle for freedom had been an inspiration to his people.

He told me that he foresaw this event, that is the attack by Russia on Finland, as far back as the time when the British first opened negotiations with Russia. That act, he said, brought Russia back into Europe.

1 Hjalmar Johan Procopé (1889-1954), Finnish Minister to Washington (1939-45), Foreign Minister (1924-6, 1927-31).

2 On 30 November 1939 Russian forces invaded Finland through Karelia, beginning the 'Winter War' which lasted to March 1940.