According to the letter from Holland, a summary of which is enclosed, Dr. Lepsius supposedly claimed that his anti-Turkish propaganda was approved and supported by the Reichskanzler and the German Foreign Office. Furthermore, he supposedly claimed that on the direct orders of the Reichskanzler and the German Foreign Office he established contact with British statesmen in order to reach an understanding with England at Turkey's expense by making use of the Armenian question.
It is requested that you question Mr. Lepsius about this, making oral use of the contents of the enclosure, whether he really made the remarks attributed to him and that are contrary to the facts. If, as is expected, he should deny this, I request that his statement be recorded and handed in signed by him. Otherwise, I request that for the time being a report is made.
For your solely personal, strictly confidential orientation I would like to remark that Dr. Lepsius continuously causes the Imperial Government grave inconvenience with his Armenian propaganda. Although, since the beginning of the war, the Imperial Government has concerned itself with obtaining alleviation for the fate of the Armenians by intervening firmly with the Sublime Porte and by means of other measures, it is of the opinion, confirmed by numerous occurrences, that, quite apart from the disadvantages arising out of this for us, such propaganda in public, particularly when accompanied by attacks against Turkey, is of no use to the Armenians themselves, but harms them instead. Mr. Lepsius is aware of this point of view. He knows, therefore, that his agitation is disapproved of most strongly by the Reichskanzler and the German Foreign Office, and for this reason he has been openly opposing the government for some time. In order to make his propaganda journeys more difficult for him, the Chairman of the Regional Council of Potsdam was asked on 8 August inst. to issue instructions that applications by Mr. Lepsius to have visas issued for Switzerland are to be denied. On 20 September, this was extended for applications for passports and visas for all foreign countries. Mr. Lepsius was able to make the journey to Holland, because he had previously obtained a passport for foreign countries from the Head of Police in Potsdam that is valid until the end of January 1917. As his agitation greatly harms the interests of the Reich, one wonders how his stay in Holland may possibly be cut short. As far as is known here, Dr. Lepsius is staying in a bathing resort on the Dutch coast. As the coastal region is in a state of siege, it may be possible to indirectly induce the Dutch government to deport Lepsius to Germany "for military reasons". However, it should not become public knowledge that this measure was suggested by the Imperial Government. I request that you first express your opinion on this matter.