711.60C/3–946: Telegram
The Ambassador in Poland (Lane) to the Secretary of State
us urgent
[Received March 11—7:56 p.m.]
323. Foreign Minister invited me to Foreign Office. Modzelewski was also present at interview.
Rzymowski said that during night of March 2nd–3rd Polish Military Mission in Berlin had been “invaded” by American troops and that members of mission had been confined under arrest for 36 hours.
I said I had received no report of this incident but that if Rzymowski would furnish me with detailed memorandum I should be glad to transmit it to Berlin for suitable action. I said that I was sure that if the facts justified it we would give the Polish Government every satisfaction.81
[Page 410]I said that this reminded me of a note which I had written on March 4 regarding the attempted entry of the quarters of the American Consul at Poznan at 2 a.m. despite the fact that a sign clearly showed the room was the official quarters of the Consul. I said that in the note which we had written to the Foreign Office we likewise cited the fact that on two occasions Polish security police accompanied by some Russians had endeavored to enter the quarters of Mr. Alexander P. Radomski, Attaché of this Embassy in the Grand Hotel at Lodz. I mentioned that we had not received a reply to this note.
I took occasion to mention to Mr. Rzymowski that I had addressed a note to Mr. Modzelewski who was then Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, on October 26, 1945 regarding the arrests of American citizens in which I requested Mr. Modzelewski to confirm in writing a verbal statement by him to me a few days previously that this Embassy would be permitted to visit American citizens under arrest. I said that to this day we had not received even the courtesy of an acknowledgement to this note. I said that perhaps as Messrs. Rzymowski and Modzelewski are unfamiliar with conditions in the US it might be appropriate for me to say that this is one matter on which all American public opinion is united whether it be Leftist or Rightist, that American citizens residing abroad shall not be subjected to maltreatment. I added that I felt sure that Ambassador Lange, who has lived in the US for many years, would bear out my contention to this effect. I added that to this day we had not made public the fact of these arrests but that sooner or later, whether it be today, tomorrow, next week or in 6 months, the facts would have to be made known, otherwise my Government would be put in the position of concealing from the Senators and Representatives of the persons arrested the plight in which they were. I impressed on them the seriousness of the situation.
Modzelewski replied it was necessary to make an investigation in many of these cases and that that took a great amount of time.
He said further that many of these persons may be American citizens but they had taken part in criminal acts and were being held for that reason.
I reminded him that regardless of investigations which had to be made I had not received a reply to my note in which I asked for a written confirmation of his verbal promise.
Modzelewski stated that he would “try” to answer my note before long.
Mr. Modzelewski said he could not understand why I made a liaison between the complaint which they had made regarding the treatment of Poles in Berlin holding diplomatic passports and the cases which I had cited regarding the treatment of private American citizens. I [Page 411] reminded him that the cases in Poznan and Lodz involved US officials accredited to Poland and while I did not wish in any way to defend the treatment accorded Polish officials in Berlin at least until I knew all the details, the incident regarding which he complained was in a military zone and the matter of diplomatic immunity presumably does not arise there.
Modzelewski then complained that Polish battalions were being organized in the American Army in the American zone of occupation and that many of these persons were members of the NSZ. He said that Poland objected to this as it is well known in international law that a person cannot join a foreign army without the consent of his government and that American citizens were not permitted to join a foreign army without the consent of the Government of the US. I said I did not know of any such provisions and I cited the case of former Ambassador Bullitt82 who served as a Major in the French Army during the last war without losing his American citizenship.
Modzelewski made a thinly veiled threat to the effect that if cases such as he complained of continued they would have serious effect on the relations between the two countries and for that reason he wished to impress on me the seriousness thereof.
Not wishing to be brought into an acrimonious discussion of attitude of the Polish Government towards the US especially as the incident with Secretary Byrnes in London which involved me personally would undoubtedly have arisen, I did not make any retort except to say that if the Foreign Office would furnish me with memoranda giving details of the two situations of which they complain I should take the matter up promptly with Berlin and with my Government.
Sent to Dept as 323; repeated Berlin as 66.
- Telegram 378, March 19, from Warsaw, transmitted the summary of a Polish Foreign Ministry note of March 12 which claimed that the offices of the Polish Restitution Mission in Berlin were entered and searched on the evening of March 1 by American military police supported by armored cars and German policemen. In the course of the search, a member of the Polish Military Mission and his wife were arrested and incarcerated for 42 hours despite his exhibition of a diplomatic passport. (740.00119 Control (Germany)/3–1946) After receiving details of the incident from American authorities in Berlin, the Department, in telegram 283, April 3, to Warsaw, outlined a reply to be made to the Polish Foreign Ministry. United States military authorities had carried out a raid on certain buildings in the American sector of Berlin suspected of being bases for black market operations, and such evidence was indeed found. Eleven Polish nationals, including the member of the Polish Military Mission, were arrested in the course of the raid. As soon as the identity of the representative of the Polish Military Mission was made, he was transferred to “guest” status and then released. Subsequently, appropriate apologies were made to the Polish Military Mission. Since the Polish Restitution Mission was not accredited to the American zone of Berlin, it was asked to move to the Soviet zone where the Polish Military Mission had its officially assigned quarters. (740.00119 Control (Germany)/3–2646)↩
- William C. Bullitt, American Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1933–36; to France, 1936–40.↩