Minister Romer furthermore said that notwithstanding certain
objections on the part of the British Government to the Polish
Government’s suggestion, when the Polish Government had discussed
the problem of reprisals in connection with the extermination of the
Jewish population, the Polish Government felt that the present grave
situation in Poland, and the danger of its becoming worse, might
oblige the Polish Government to suggest to our and the British
Government the need for renewed consideration by the three
Governments of the principle of reprisals as such, and in event this
were positively settled, of their character and scope.
[Enclosure]
The Polish Foreign
Ministry to the Embassy Near
the Polish Government in Exile
Aide-Mémoire
1. The Polish Government along with the Governments of other
Allied countries received with great satisfaction the
announcement that neutral countries had been warned against
granting asylum to war criminals.3 Information
received from Poland, and referred to in Paragraph 2 below,
impels the Polish Government to draw the attention of the
Government of the United States of America to the fact that,
apart from the punishment of war criminals for the crimes they
have committed, it has become more imperative than ever to
restrain the Germans from committing further the mass murder of
the Polish population in Poland. This becomes all the more
urgent since it may be anticipated that the policy of
exterminating the population of entire provinces, as is
practised in Poland, may also be applied by the Germans in the
present final stage of the war to the people
[Page 505]
in other German-occupied
territories, like the Czechs, Yugoslavs, French and those in the
occupied parts of the U.S.S.R.
2. According to news received from Poland, after exterminating
the majority of the Jewish population there, the Germans have
since the autumn [of] 1942 begun to deport hundreds of thousands
of Poles whose homes lie along a 100 kilometer broad belt to the
West of a line reaching from Bialystok along the rivers Bug and
Zbrucz.
A large proportion of those intended for deportation were
murdered. In addition thousands of Polish children were
separated from their parents and sent to Germany to be brought
up as Germans. A considerable number of the Polish minorities
living in East-Prussia farther to the North of the Bialystok
area, was deported to the Reich proper.
The inhabitants of the province of Lublin to the West of the belt
which had been cleared of its population were not deported; the
Germans began to murder them in July 1943. Men from 14 to 50 are
taken to Germany. Women, children and old people are sent to
camps to be killed in gas chambers which previously served to
exterminate the Jewish population of Poland.
On July 26th the Polish Government learned from the Homeland that
the Germans are adopting the same methods in the provinces of
Radom and Cracow. The population of the provinces of Lublin,
Radom and Cracow total more than 7 million. Details regarding
the above information are given in an Appendix.4
3. It may be presumed that the Germans are reckoning on the
possibility of a defeat, and have consequently decided to
exterminate the largest possible proportion of the Polish
population with a view to assuring to the German race, after the
war, a numerical superiority over its neighbours in the
aggregate. If no preventive measures are taken, these mass
murders in the provinces of Lublin, Radom and Cracow may be
extended to the inhabitants of the remaining Polish provinces,
as well as to war prisoners and Polish forced labourers in
Germany, in other words to the whole Polish Nation.
There is no reason to believe that this mass extermination will
not also be applied to other occupied countries in Europe. As a
matter of fact Sauckel, the Reich’s plenipotentiary for labour,
declared at a public meeting in Cracow on the 19th June 1943:
“If the Germans lose the war, we shall see that nothing remains
either here or elsewhere in Europe.”
4. Faced with the possible extermination of further millions of
Poles, the Polish government feel compelled to appeal to the
Government of the United States of America to do all in their
power to prevent further murders. In the view of the Polish
Government, the
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application of the following measures might be effective and as
such are worthy of consideration:
- (a)
- A widespread broadcasting, over the radio and
otherwise, to Germany and also to occupied countries of
the character, extent and purpose of the mass-murders
committed against the Polish people. This should be
amplified by repeated categorical warnings to the German
criminals, their families in Germany, and to the whole
German people wherever they may be, that all those
guilty of such deeds will be held responsible for them.
It may be expected that if such warnings are given
drastically and repeatedly today when Germany listens to
the overseas wireless more than at any other time, it
will not only in a certain measure have the desired
effect, but will also be instrumental in splitting
German public opinion by supplying facts and providing
arguments for the opposition, thus deepening the
defeatist attitude already noticeable in Germany.
- (b)
- The issue of an official statement by the Government
of the United States of America, (if possible jointly
with the British Government) embodying the arguments and
the essence of the proposed broadcast action. The
statement itself should also be the subject of
broadcasts and should be dropped in the form of printed
leaflets over Germany including, if possible, Eastern
Germany.
- (c)
- The campaign of broadcasting warnings might also be
extended to broadcasts to the satellites of the Reich,
for under certain conditions those nations may also
become the victims of German murders; such a measure may
also have important consequences by contributing to the
distrust of these satellites of Germany and influencing
their political relations with the Reich.
- (d)
- An examination of measures for immediate
reprisals.
When the Polish Government discussed the problem of reprisals
with the British Government in connection with the extermination
of the Jewish population, they met with certain objections on
the part of that Government. However, the present grave
situation in Poland and the danger of its worsening still
further, may oblige the Polish Government to suggest to the
United States and British Governments the need for a renewed
consideration by the three Governments of principle of reprisals
as such, and should this be positively settled, of their choice,
character and scope.
London,
August 5th,
1943.
