Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume VI

711.60C/11–2546

Memorandum by the Ambassador in Poland (Lane) to the Secretary of State⁵⁶

[Washington,] November 25, 1946.

Implementing our conversation of November 20 in New York⁵⁷ I sincerely trust that it will be possible for you to speak with Mr. Rzymowski, Minister for Foreign Affairs for Poland, or with Dr. Lange, Polish Ambassador, now in New York, and that the Acting Secretary will be able to speak with the Polish Chargé d’Affaires here in Washington along the following lines:⁵⁸

(As I pointed out to the Prime Minister of Poland and to the then Acting Minister of Foreign Relations (Mr. Olszewski) [relations] between the United States and Poland have been steadily worsening during the past few months, and through no fault of the United States. The following are instances of the lack of consideration which is being given to us by the Polish Government. For the sake of brevity I am merely mentioning them but of course there is full documentation on each matter in the files of the Department.)

1. Despite representations over a period of fifteen months the American Embassy has not been permitted to have access to claimants to American citizenship now under arrest in Poland for alleged political offenses. The Polish Government claims these claimants to American citizenship are in fact Polish nationals and has refused to permit us to interview them, even though on our part we have offered to have a member of the Polish Government accompany the diplomatic or consular officer who would interview the person under arrest.

2. The Polish Government has ignored our observations on the holding of the elections. Our note of August 19 remains unanswered.⁵⁹ On the other hand, the Polish Government through its representatives has criticized in the press our observations as being interference in Polish internal affairs, despite our Yalta commitment.

3. No satisfactory arrangement has been made by the Polish Government for the compensation of American citizens whose property in Poland has been nationalized.

4. The government controlled press in Poland has been uniformly hostile toward the United States and deliberately distorts American Policy as, for instance, in the case of your Stuttgart and Paris speeches.

5. An arbitrary rate of exchange of 100 zloty per dollar was fixed by the Polish Government on the eve of the negotiations between a representative of the United States Treasury Department and Polish Government officials. As a result the operation of United States Government agencies in Poland has been seriously handicapped. The Polish Government should agree to the establishment of a diplomatic rate of exchange which is in accordance with present cost of living in Poland.

6. The Polish Government has been putting off under varying pretexts discussions for the conclusion of the bilateral aviation agreement. This matter is considered of the utmost importance by our Government and has been continually stressed by the Embassy in Poland since August 1945.

In the event that you and Mr. Acheson approve of my recommendations I suggest that the Embassy in Warsaw be instructed by telegram again to take up these matters with the Polish Government on the highest level, emphasizing that Poland and not the United States will be the primary sufferer if our relations are permitted to continue to worsen.

A[rthur] B[liss] L[ane]

56. Ambassador Lane was in Washington for consultation.
57. No official record of this conversation has been found. For a brief account of Ambassador Lane’s meeting with the Secretary in New York, see Lane, I Saw Poland Betrayed, p. 274. For an account of his conversation of November 19 in New York with Polish Foreign Minister Rzymowski, Ambassador Lange, and Wiktor Grosz of the Polish Foreign Ministry, see ibid., pp. 273–274.
58. On November 26 Ambassador Lange called on the Acting Secretary of State who took the opportunity to raise once again the questions of compensation to American owners of nationalized properties and the unfavorable exchange rate fixed by the Polish Government (701.60C11/11–2646).
59. For text of note, see Department of State Bulletin, September 1, 1946, p. 422.