740.0011 E.W./2–1545
The Polish Ambassador (Ciechanowski) to the Acting Secretary of State
Sir: Acting on instructions of my Government, I have the honor to communicate the following statement of the Polish Government: [Page 122]
“On Feb. 12, at 7:30 P.M., the British Foreign Office handed to the Polish Ambassador in London35 the text of the resolution concerning Poland36 adopted by President Roosevelt, Premier Churchill and Marshal Stalin at the Yalta conference between Feb. 4 and 11.
“Before the conference began, the Polish Government handed to the Governments of Great Britain and the United States a memorandum37 in which was expressed that these Governments would not be party to any decision regarding an allied Polish state without previous consultation and without the consent of the Polish Government.
“At the same time, the Polish Government declared themselves willing to seek a solution of the dispute initiated by Soviet Russia through normal international procedure and with due respect for the rights of the two parties concerned.
“In spite of this, decisions of the three-Power conference were prepared and taken not only without participation and authorization of the Polish Government but also without their knowledge.
“The method adopted in the case of Poland is a contradiction of the elementary principles binding the Allies and constitutes a violation of the letter and the spirit of the Atlantic Charter38 and the right of every nation to defend its own interests.
“The Polish Government declares that the decision of the Three-Power conference concerning Poland cannot be recognized by the Polish Government and cannot bind the Polish nation.
“The Polish Government will consider the severance of the eastern half of the territory of Poland through the imposition of a Polish-Soviet frontier following along the so-called Curzon Line as the fifth partition of Poland now accomplished by her Allies.
“The intention of the three Powers to create a ‘Provisional Polish Government of National Unity’ by enlarging the foreign-appointed Lublin Committee with persons vaguely described as ‘Democratic leaders from Poland itself and Poles abroad’ can only legalize Soviet interference in Polish internal affairs.
“As long as the territory of Poland will remain under the sole occupation of Soviet troops, government of that kind will not safeguard to the Polish nation, even in the presence of British and American diplomats, the unfettered right of free expression.
“The Polish Government, which is the sole legal and generally recognized Government of Poland and which for five and one-half years has directed the struggle of the Polish state and nation against Axis countries both through the underground movement in the homeland and through the Polish armed forces in all theatres of war, has expressed their readiness in a memorial presented to the Governments of Great Britain and the United States to cooperate in the creation of a Government in Poland truly representative of the will of the Polish nation. The Polish Government maintains its offer.”
Accept [etc.]
- Count Edward Raczynski.↩
- i.e., the Declaration on Poland, Conferences at Malta and Yalta, p. 973.↩
- Memorandum from the Polish Ambassador to the Secretary of State, dated January 22, 1945, ibid., p. 228.↩
- Joint Statement by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, August 14, 1941, Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. i, p. 367.↩