860C.01/3–1345
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Memorandum
At the opening of the Crimean Conference discussions on Poland, the United States Delegation put forward, in agreement with the British Delegation, the proposal that a body of respected and well known figures, not necessarily political, should be set up in Poland as a first step to the re-organization of the government. This proposal was subsequently dropped.
The difficulties now ahead of us in effecting the formal transfer of authority from the Polish President in London to some body in Warsaw [Page 162] after the setting up of the Provisional Government of National Unity, have become even clearer than they were at the outset. Apart from the general attitude of the President and Polish Government in London (which is to do all they can to make the Crimean Settlement break down, and to make the fullest possible use of their constitutional position in order to do so), the Polish forces owe allegiance to the President to whom they take the oath. General Anders17 immediately after the announcement of the Crimean Settlement reaffirmed publicly the allegiance of the Polish forces under his command to the President and to the London Government “appointed by him”. This matter of allegiance to the President is said to carry great weight with all ranks of the Polish forces.
Moreover, if the question of the exercise of the Presidential powers in Poland is not settled in the discussions of the Moscow Commission but is left open, Bierut and his supporters may be counted upon to twist the situation to their own advantage. It is even conceivable that the Russians and Bierut will contend that he is, and remains, the Acting President and could not possibly give up that position. The Government would then presumably be his Government and, in default of specific provisions to the contrary (on which it might be difficult to get agreement) it would probably be possible for him to get rid of such Ministers from the Provisional Government of National Unity as he wanted to eject or at any rate, very much to curtail the power of the Government and the influence of the Poles of our choice.
In these circumstances the Foreign Office thinks that the Presidential powers in Poland should be exercised by a small Presidential Council of respected figures. So far as they can see, and Monsieur Mikolajczyk agrees, there is no constitutional way of transferring the Presidency from President Rackewiecz either under the 1935 or even under the 1921 Constitution.18 For this reason it seems better that the Presidential functions should repose in a small Council in Poland rather than in one individual.
- Lt. Gen. Władysław Anders, Commander of the Polish Second Corps in Italy, who became Acting Commander in Chief of Polish Armed Forces on February 26, 1945, by decree of the President of the Polish Government in Exile at London.↩
- For text of the Constitutional Act of April 23, 1935 (in Polish), see Dziennik Ustaw Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Journal of Laws), 1935/No. 30, text 227. For text of the Constitution of March 17, 1921 (in Polish), see ibid., 1923/No. 23, text 376.↩