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 Ministry for Foreign
Affairs to the American 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.
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 practiced in Poland, may also
be applied by the Germans in the present final stage of the war to the
people 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 the news received from Poland, after exterminating the
majority of the Jewish population there, the Germans have since the
autumn 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.14
[Page 411]
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
neighbors 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 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.
[Page 412]
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 the principle of
reprisals as such, and should this be positively settled, of their
choice, character and scope.