760C.6215/572
The Chargé in Poland (Wiley) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 12.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of the Department’s confidential instruction No. 235 of October 30, 1931,36 enclosing a copy of a memorandum of a conversation had between Undersecretary of State and Ambassador Filipowicz on October 22, 1931.
In respect of M. Filipowicz’s instructions from Marshal Pilsudski to state that Poland believed that there was at almost any moment the danger of invasion of Polish territory by German irregular troops, that if this should occur the entire Polish Army would be immediately mobilized and marched into Germany to settle accounts once and for all and that Poland would not be deterred from such a course by any action of the League of Nations, I venture to report that competent officials of the Foreign Office as well as foremost organs of the press are categoric in denying the existence of any danger of a Putsch or other intervention by force from Germany; either now or on the advent in government of the National Socialists.
Despite the statement of M. Filipowicz to the contrary, the Polish consensus seems clearly to be that the economic situation of Germany and the moderated point of view of Hitler preclude any present possibility of German aggression (vide despatch No. 1140 of December 2, 193136). It may therefore be inferred that the message of Marshal Pilsudski, as conveyed by M. Filipowicz, does not derive from any present fear of German attack. The real explanation of his communication is, I think, Polish alarm over German propaganda and the wave of sentiment throughout the world, particularly in the United States, in favor of German revisionist claims—which, it is feared, may unduly encourage German intransigence. It has, moreover, wounded [Page 604] Polish pride that the so-called “Corridor” should have become the subject of discussion in official circles abroad and the theme of endless press polemics.
The Department will recall that on October 26, 1931, at the instance of M. Zaleski, the Embassy appealed on his behalf, in telegram No. 109,36a for the good offices of the Secretary of State to the end that comment in the United States on the subject of the “Corridor” be abated if possible. The Marshal, doubtless with an eye on the approaching visits to Washington of Laval and Grandi, probably decided that something still more forceful was needed to silence the revisionists’ “campaign” in the United States. Hence M. Filipowicz’s hurried return to Washington and the Marshal’s message (somewhat reminiscent of his communication to M. Woldemaras in 1927).
The Polish thesis with regard to the United States inclines to simple formularization; because of its vast financial commitment in the Reich, American concern is centered in the welfare of Germany. The Marshal, whose mental processes are direct, may have thought that by alarming the American Government with the danger of war, it would, out of anxiety for the security of things in Germany, take effective steps to put an end to “Corridor” discussions in the United States. That political personages and the press in the United States should be free in their utterances from the influence of governmental pressure is doubtless not fully understood by Marshal Pilsudski. He probably believes that with sufficient incentive the American Government could be inspired to intervene effectively.
Should however, a situation arise in the future, such as foreseen in the message of Marshal Pilsudski, the threat of an immediate Polish attack on Germany is probably not an empty one; at least not if the Marshal still presides over Polish affairs. Whether such a drastic policy would serve the best interests of Poland, if only by clouding the juridical issue of determining the aggressor, is another matter. The Marshal insists that “one is only worthy to be called a human being who has a sure conviction and succeeds in confessing it in action without regard for the consequences.”*
Other points raised by M. Filipowicz in conversation with Mr. Castle will be commented on in a subsequent despatch.
Respectfully yours,