760C.61/8–1842
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The Ambassador of Poland called to see me this afternoon with an urgent message from his Government.
The Ambassador stated that after his recent conversations with the Secretary of State and with myself regarding the arrest in the Soviet Union by the Soviet Government of Polish diplomatic officials and of relief agents, the Ambassador had called upon the President to discuss this question with him50 in order to seek the assistance of the President in finding a prompt solution of the problem. The Ambassador stated that the President had assured him that Mr. Harriman would be instructed, on the occasion of his visit to Moscow, to suggest to the Soviet high authorities that the Polish diplomatic officials under arrest be permitted to proceed to Iran, and, second, that, inasmuch as the supplies now stored in the Soviet Union for distribution to the Polish nationals in that country had come from the United States and inasmuch as the imprisonment of the Polish relief agents eliminated the possibility of proper distribution or custody of these relief supplies, the Soviet Government agree to permit these Polish relief agents likewise to be evacuated from Soviet territory to Iran and be replaced with other Polish relief agents individually acceptable to the Soviet authorities.
The Ambassador stated that the President had said that it would be a good plan for the Polish Foreign Minister in London to discuss these questions with Mr. Harriman before the latter left for Moscow in order that Mr. Harriman might fully understand all of the details of the questions involved.
The Ambassador concluded by saying that he had word that no instructions had been received by Mr. Harriman from the President and that unfortunately the Polish Foreign Minister, Count Raczyński, had not been able to see Mr. Harriman before the latter left London [Page 174] in view of the fact that the Ambassador’s message had only been received a few hours before Mr. Harriman’s departure.
General Sikorski therefore urged that this Government instruct Ambassador Standley, who was to be in Moscow until August 20, to present these suggestions to the Soviet authorities in the hope that the Soviet Government would accede thereto.
I told the Ambassador that I was unfortunately not familiar with the assurances which the Ambassador alleged the President had given him, but that I was quite sure that, if the President desired to make these suggestions to the Soviet Government, there would be no objection on the part of the Department of State to the sending of instructions to Ambassador Standley as requested by the Polish Government.51