Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1941, General, The Soviet Union, Volume I

760C.61/976

Memorandum by the Polish Ambassador (Ciechanowski)²⁶

The Soviet Government had agreed to comply with the following requests of the Polish Government:

I. Immediate release of all Polish citizens from prisons, concentration camps and camps of compulsory labor;

II. The establishment of settlements for Polish deportees to be fixed in understanding with the Polish authorities;

III. Provision of facilities for improvement of the critical material and cultural situation of the deportees;

IV. Granting of facilities for aid and assistance from foreign sources and the distribution of such help by the Polish authorities.

According to the latest information received from the Polish Embassy in U. S. S. R. with reference to the situation of the Polish civilian population (Polish deportees) in Russia, the following developments have taken place during the last few weeks:

1. A great majority of the deportees are still being kept in compulsory labor camps.

2. Free railway transportation is being granted only to persons released from prisons and concentration camps. As to the remainder of deportees, which means a great majority of them, such free railway transportation is being denied on the grounds, that the expenses should be covered by the Polish Government. As the Polish Government has no funds to finance the transportation, of such a considerable number of people, who have been deported to Russia against their will by the Soviet Government, the Polish authorities suggested that an appropriate credit or loan to that effect be granted to the Polish Government by the Soviet Government. So far no answer has been received to this suggestion.

As a result of recent war developments in Russia a new migration of Polish people is taking place southward. All these Poles are completely destitute, without any means of subsistence and receive no assistance from the Soviet authorities.

3. Hitherto, the Soviet Government has not fulfilled its promises to release the sick, aged and children from compulsory labor and to provide for them a minimum of food supplies and essentials. It is pointed out that about 100,000 people are being directed to Uzbekistan for labor in very hard conditions.

4. As far as foreign help is concerned, the situation is still unsettled in spite of the assurances of the Soviet authorities. It is impossible to obtain Soviet visas for relief expeditions from British India to Tashkent. The collaboration of the Soviet Government with the American Red Cross has not yet materialized.

Under these circumstances it has been impossible for the Polish authorities in U. S. S. R. to establish permanent centers of aid and assistance to the Polish deportees.

On the contrary, latest information goes to show that even some of the official delegates for Relief of the Polish Embassy in U. S. S. R. are being arrested and are receiving no protection or assistance from the local Soviet authorities.

Washington , November 17, 1941.

26. This memorandum was left with the Assistant Chief of the Division of European Affairs by Ambassador Ciechanowski, who said that it was based upon information sent by the Polish Ambassador in the Soviet Union to the Polish Foreign Office in London. At his request, this memorandum was sent to President Roosevelt on November 19, 1941.