Declaration on German Crimes in Poland 1
Trustworthy information has reached the United States Government regarding the crimes committed by the German invaders against the population of Poland.2 Since the autumn of 1942 a belt of territory extending from the province of Bialystok southwards along the line of the River Bug has been systematically emptied of its inhabitants. In July 1943 these measures were extended to practically the whole of the province of Lublin, where hundreds of thousands of persons have been deported from their homes or exterminated.
These measures are being carried out with the utmost brutality. Many of the victims are killed on the spot. The rest are segregated. Men from fourteen to fifty are taken away to work for Germany. Some children are killed on the spot, others are separated from their parents and either sent to Germany to be brought up as Germans or sold to German settlers or despatched with the women and old men to concentration camps, where they are now being systematically put to death in gas chambers.3
The United States Government reaffirms its resolve to punish the instigators and actual perpetrators of these crimes. It further declares that, so long as such atrocities continue to be committed by the representatives and in the name of Germany, they must be taken into account against the time of the final settlement with Germany. Meanwhile the war against Germany will be prosecuted with the utmost vigor until the barbarous Hitlerite tyranny has been finally overthrown.
- Concerning the discussion of this subject by Roosevelt and Churchill on August 22, 1943, see ante, p. 931. No copy originating at Quebec has been found of the text agreed upon. The source text used here is the text contained in Hull’s telegram No. 758 of August 27, 1943, to the American Embassy at Moscow, which stated that the agreed text would be released simultaneously by the British and United States Governments on August 30 (740.00116 European War 1939/1107a). Concerning the communication of this text to the Soviet Government with the suggestion that the Soviet Union issue a similar declaration if it saw fit, see Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. i, p. 416.↩
- See ante, p. 503.↩
- In the text released to the press by the Department of State on August 30, 1943 (see Department of State Bulletin, vol. ix, September 4, 1943, p. 150), the last twelve words of this sentence were omitted on the suggestion of the British Government, which said that there was insufficient evidence to justify their inclusion. See Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. i, pp. 416–417.↩