860C.01/2–2745: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Harriman ) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 28—6:40 a.m.]
557. ReEmbs 540, February 24, 3 p.m. Yesterday evening I received a note from Molotov enclosing the text of a telegram received today from the Polish Provisional Government through the Soviet Ambassador in Warsaw in reply to the telegram of February 24 sent to them by the commission. In this message, signed by Bierut, the Polish Provisional Government acknowledges receipt of the telegram in question and agrees to send its representatives to the proposed consultation in Moscow but considers it necessary to make the following observations:
“(1) The participation of democratic leaders expressing the will of the people and defending the principles on which the decisions of the Crimea Conference were based is required in the proposed consultation. Unfortunately, due to the political one-sidedness of the selection, this condition is not met by the list of persons proposed in your letter.
(2) Concerning the whereabouts of Mr. Wincenty Witos on Polish territory the Polish Provisional Government has no information. If however, he is in Poland, the fact that he is concealing himself after the liberation of the country from the German occupants, whereas the whereabouts of Mr. Witos was known to everyone during the German occupation, makes his participation in the consultation impossible in our opinion.
It is considered expedient by the Polish Provisional Government to bring into the consultation democratic representatives of various political tendencies in Poland and proposes the following candidates: (names in reverse order) 5. Sigismund Palczak.58 4. The writer Sophia Nalkowsa.59 3. The writer Viktor Jan. 2. Professor Stanislae [Stanislaw Kutrzeba]. 1. Professor Sigizmund Szymanowski.60
(3) The Polish Provisional Government considers it necessary to point out with reference to the participants in the conference from abroad that Mr. Mikolajczyk in several recent press statements has come out sharply against the decisions of the Crimea Conference [Page 129] and thereby has disqualified himself as a possible participant in the consultation, in our opinion.
As regards Mr. Romer, he does not represent any democratic tendency in Poland and the democratic spirit which permeated the decisions of the Crimea Conference is contradicted by his activity.
We propose that the following persons from London be invited, considering that the selection of persons for the consultation should take into consideration those groups of Poles which take a positive attitude toward the decisions of the Crimea Conference, or at the very least take a neutral attitude, (names in reverse order): General Zeligowski, Mr. Kolodzei, Secretary of the Polish Seaman’s Union, Mr. Grabski.
(4) The following are authorized by the Polish Provisional Government to proceed to Moscow for the consultation (names in reverse order): Rola Zymerski,61 Osobka-Morawski,62 Bierut. After determination of the participation in the consultation we are prepared to fix the time of arrival at Moscow.[”]
- Zygmunt Felczak, member of the Christian Labor Party and for a time in 1942 the Delegate in Poland of the Polish Government in Exile at London.↩
- Zofia Nalkowska, a foremost Polish novelist and playwright with liberal political sympathies.↩
- Zygmunt Szymanowski, Professor of Bacteriology at Warsaw.↩
- Col. Gen. Michal Zymierski (pseudonym Rola and sometimes identified as Rola-Zymierski), Commander in Chief of the Polish Armed Forces and Minister of Defense of the Polish Provisional Government in Warsaw: Deputy President of the Polish National Council; leader in the Polish Workers’ Party.↩
- Edward Boleslaw Osobka-Morawski, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lublin Polish Provisional Government.↩