760C.6215/534
Memorandum by the Secretary of State of a Conversation With the Polish Ambassador (Filipowicz)
The Polish Ambassador called today and told me that he had intended to go away but decided to stay after the receipt of our note, in order to effect the ratification of the Treaty with this country.32a
The Ambassador then said he wanted to speak to me, in view of my trip, about certain problems in Europe, and he brought up the question of East Prussia. He said that we heard everywhere of the question of the Polish Corridor; that it was really another name for the actual difficulty, which was East Prussia. He said that East Prussia [Page 597] had not been wholly disarmed at the time of the War, and it was a menace to Poland. He brought out a map to show me how it lay. On the other hand, Germany, when she complained about the Corridor, was really fearful about the fate of East Prussia, which was separated from her by the Corridor; that the situation was one of virtual fear. I asked the Ambassador what could be done about it. He said he thought there should be an international agreement, similar to the Locarno Agreement33 which protected the boundary of Germany and France on the west; that under this agreement Germany would be protected by the various nations as to the safety of East Prussia and in return for this East Prussia should agree to disarm.
The Ambassador concluded with a request that I visit Poland. I told him I was afraid I would not have sufficient time on this trip.
- Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Consular Rights, signed June 15, 1931, vol. ii, p. 924.↩
- See Great Britain, Cmd. 2435, Miscellaneous No. 7 (1925): Papers Respecting the Proposals for a Pact of Security Made by the German Government on February 9, 1925.↩