860C.24/5–846
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
| Participants: | Dr. Litauer, Counselor of the Polish Embassy |
| Mr. Acheson—U | |
| Mr. Elbrick—EE |
Dr. Litauer called this afternoon at my request. I told him that the United States Government has seen fit to send instructions to the Foreign Liquidation Commission’s representatives abroad to the effect that all further deliveries of surplus war materials to Poland are to be suspended immediately. I told him that this was due to the fact that the Polish Government had failed, in our view, to carry out commitments made at the time of the recent credit negotiations. I referred specifically to the failure of the Polish Government to publish the text of the notes exchanged at that time; the failure of the Polish Government to permit the transmission of a press message reporting a speech recently made to the National Council by the Vice-President of the Polish Peasant Party; and the continued delay in furnishing to this Government the texts of the various trade agreements which Poland had entered into with other countries. I told him that this Government was distressed and baffled at the failure of the Polish Government to live up to these commitments, and I emphasized again that the suspension of surplus property deliveries is due entirely to this fact.
Dr. Litauer said that he feared that the text of the notes as transmitted by cable from here had not been received by the Polish Foreign Office and that the courier carrying the text from Washington had [Page 450] just arrived in Warsaw today. He had previously informed us that the courier had arrived on May 2. As for the speech by the Vice-President of the Polish Peasant Party, he insisted that there was no censorship in Poland and said that the Embassy had received a telegram from Warsaw stating that Zebrowski of the Political Department of the Foreign Office had recently informed Mr. Keith, Counselor of the American Embassy, to that effect. Dr. Litauer was reminded that the Associated Press correspondent had filed the speech at the telegraph office in Warsaw and had been informed by the censorship that it could not be transmitted.
Dr. Litauer wished to know whether it had been a condition in connection with the credit negotiations that the texts of the Polish trade treaties be made available at any given time. He was told that there was no time element involved other than the fact that Dr. Rajchman, who represented the Polish Government in the credit negotiations, had assured officers of the State Department as long ago as January 7, that these treaties would be made available. It appeared therefore that the Polish Government has had sufficient time to accomplish this.
In conclusion I told Dr. Litauer that I hoped that the Polish Government would fulfill the commitments in question without delay. Dr. Litauer said he would report this to his Government and again make appropriate inquiry as to the circumstances surrounding the failure of the Government to carry out these commitments.