760C.61/2–1343
The Polish Ambassador (Ciechanowski) to President Roosevelt 36
Mr. President: Acting on instructions cabled to me by Prime Minister General Sikorski today, I have the honor to submit to you the telegraphic text of a letter addressed to Prime Minister Churchill concerning the crisis which has now arisen in Polish-Soviet relations. The text as received by me in General Sikorski’s cable is as follows:
“The staunch and uncompromising attitude of Poland, unique among the countries of the European continent, drew upon her the most cruel and inhuman reprisals of the enemy and did not protect her from grave wrongs inflicted by her Eastern neighbor who only joined the Camp of fighting Democracies after the war had already lasted for nearly two years and did not do so on his own initiative.
“The Polish Government, acting in close understanding with the British Government, showed its readiness to disregard these wrongs in the name of solidarity in the fight against the common enemy and being desirous to lay the foundations for friendly cooperation between the two countries after final victory.
“The agreement between the Polish and the Soviet Governments, signed in London on July 30, 1941, was the expression of this attitude on the part of Poland. This agreement was complemented by a declaration made on the same day in the House of Commons by Foreign Secretary Eden37 in which, among other things, he stated that the British Government did not recognize any territorial changes brought about in Poland after August, 1939.
“The Polish Government continues faithfully to fulfill its signed obligations and takes every opportunity to show its readiness to collaborate with the Government of the USSR on a basis not merely restricted to Polish-Soviet relations, but on a larger, general European basis. On the other hand, the Soviet Government departs from the terms of its signed agreement in essential matters and in matters of principle.
“Instances. Interruption of recruitment to the Polish Army already in the Spring of 1942, contrary to the resolutions of the agreement of July 30, 1941. The attitude adopted by the Soviet Government with regard to Polish citizenship, which the Soviet Government attempted formerly to limit and which it finally now refuses to recognize in respect of all Polish citizens in the USSR.
[Page 332]“On this basis the Soviet authorities have at present started the recruiting of Polish citizens to the Soviet army and have ordered the final disruption of Polish relief activities.
“The above mentioned measures taken by the Soviet authorities are contrary to international law and to the letter and spirit of the Polish-Soviet agreement, and must be regarded as an unfriendly act towards a co-belligerent nation fighting in defense of a common cause in the name of principles commonly accepted and declared.
“The difficulties thus provoked by the Soviets and the lack of appropriate reaction on the part of the great Allies are causing serious uneasiness and ferment in Poland and have deeply affected the spirit of the Polish Army. The families of numerous Polish soldiers are still in the USSR. The evacuation of these families from Soviet Russia has now been entirely stopped by the Soviet authorities.
“Mr. Tadeusz Romer, Polish Ambassador to the USSR., who was spending a few days in London for the purpose of direct contact with the Polish Government, has left for Kuybishev bearing a personal letter from Prime Minister General Sikorski to Premier Stalin, as one more attempt at a friendly settlement of mutual relations.
“The letter of Prime Minister General Sikorski to Premier Churchill ends with an appeal for his immediate intervention in Moscow in order to prevent the creation of further accomplished facts on the part of the Soviets and to safeguard the most fundamental rights of Allied Poland, among others, her inalienable right to protect her own citizens and to assist them in their urgent need.”
Accept [etc.]