862.014/5–1545: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kennan) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 15—6:41 a.m.]
1580. British Chargé40 has sent a long note to Vyshinski setting forth British position regarding establishment of Polish civil administration in Soviet occupied German territory. While the note is less vigorous than the representations made by me on the basis of the Department’s 1033 May 8, 11 a.m. it follows in general a parallel line. Roberts states that his Government finds it difficult to reconcile the numerous official statements of the Provisional Government with the assumption of the British Government that local administration in these areas was being entrusted to Polish officials simply on grounds of convenience, that such officials are agents of the Soviet Government as occupying power and not responsible in any way to Polish authority, and that the authority of the Control Commission would extend to these areas within Germany’s pre-1937 frontiers just as to American and British zones and other parts of Soviet zone. He asks whether, since administration of these territories is being entrusted to Polish officials, the Soviet Government accepts responsibility for their acts and if not, what the position of the Soviet Government on this question is. He also inquires whether the Soviet Government agrees that the provision of the Crimea Declaration on [Page 297] Poland for final delimitation on Poland’s western frontiers at the peace conference is interpreted to mean that none of the measures now being effected by Polish authorities within pre-1937 Germany can be understood to establish incorporation of this territory into the Polish state. Finally, he asks for information about the present status of Danzig and the extent of the areas within pre-1937 Germany in which Polish administrative responsibility has been established.
Roberts expects to discuss this matter orally with Vyshinski in a day or so.
- Frank Roberts.↩