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

711.60C/12–1746

The Ambassador in Poland (Lane) to the Secretary of State

No. 959
secret

Warsaw, December 17, 1946.
[Received January 14, 1947.]

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith for the Department’s background information and as a convenient means of reference a memorandum⁷⁸ prepared by Mr. Andrews of my staff, concerning various incidents which have taken place during the past 15 months affecting the British and American Embassies and involving both Poles and Russians. These incidents, some of which have not been reported to the Department, are indicative of the attitude often taken by Polish officials toward Americans and British in this country.

The following incidents in which Russians were principally at fault appear to have been deliberately provoked by the Russians concerned:

The stopping of Colonel York’s automobile by Soviet Army officers on October 16, 1945;⁷⁹

The detention by Russian officials for five hours of Messrs. Scott and Abel, representatives of American news organizations, on June 25, 1946;⁸⁰

The mistreatment of Mr. and Mrs. Van Dee by two Russian Army officers at Wilanów, on August 21, 1946;⁸¹

The assault on Messrs. Dickinson and Storrs, British officials, at Rzeszów on October 10, 1946;⁸²

The slapping of Colonel Nevitt of UNRRA, on October 22, 1946, by a Russian Army officer in Polish uniform; and

The molestation of Mr. Dillon, Third Secretary of the Embassy, by Russian soldiers on November 18, 1946.⁸³

While the incident in which Colonel Jessie was involved⁸⁴ does not appear to have been deliberately induced by the Russians who took part in it, a Russian officer wilfully held Jessie under detention for over 3 hours despite the fact that the latter’s identity and diplomatic status were known to the Russians.

Two of the incidents in which Poles were at fault were the direct result of action taken by the Polish Foreign Office, while the others would appear to have been the result mainly of the ill-will or ignorance of diplomatic usage, or of both, on the part of the Polish Security Police and Polish soldiers or militiamen. In the first category belong the obstruction of the British Ambassador’s travel by airplane from Kraków to Warsaw on May 8, 1946, and the singular and undiplomatic treatment accorded to the Counselor of the British Embassy on October 2, 1946, by Mr. Zebrowski, Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs.

In the second category belong the following cases: the hostile and insolent treatment that I received from the Polish Security Police at the Warsaw airport on May 4, 1946;⁸⁵ the arrest and detention of Mr. Raymond and Mr. and Mrs. Zagorski, of the Embassy’s staff;⁸⁶ the mistreatment of Mr. Storrs of the British Embassy on October 19, 1946: and the invasion of the premises of the Embassy’s Naval Attaché by armed men on November 2, 1946.⁸⁷

Respectfully yours,

Arthur Bliss Lane

78. Eight-page memorandum, not printed.
79. On October 16, 1945, an unidentified Soviet brigadier general and other Soviet Army officers stopped the automobile of Lt. Col. Edward J. York, the Embassy’s Military Attaché for Air, in which the latter and Associated Press correspondent Larry Allen were traveling, and through the use of force compelled Colonel York’s chauffeur to turn over the automobile’s tools.
80. John Scott of Time Magazine and Elie Abel of the North American Newspaper Alliance were arrested by Polish soldiers in western Poland, allegedly for not stopping at the Polish-German border when asked to do so by a Polish sentry. Mr. Scott was interrogated for 5 hours by two Russian officers attached to the Polish Security Police.
81. Eugene Van Dee, an official of the United States Information Service, and his wife, while at a restaurant in Wilanów, were approached by two drunken Soviet Army officers who demanded that the Van Dees drive them home and sat down at the Van Dees’ table, put their revolvers on the table, and carried on a three and a half hour tirade against Americans and the United States. The Van Dees finally managed to slip out of the restaurant to their oar, but as they drove away the Russians fired several revolver shots at them.
82. John Dickinson, British Consul at Katowice, and M. M. B. Storrs, Third Secretary of the British Embassy at Warsaw, were assaulted at pistol-point in the hotel in which they were staying at Rzeszów by a Russian lieutenant, a Russian sergeant, and a Polish militia lieutenant Messrs. Dickinson and Storrs were beaten and their hotel room was ransacked.
83. Three Russian soldiers attempted to get into Mr. Dillon’s automobile while he was driving home on the evening of November 18. Polish militiamen eventually persuaded the Russians to desist.
84. While in the Bialystok area on June 29 to observe the voting for the June 30 referendum, Lt. Col. Frank S. Jessie, Assistant Military Attaché in the Embassy, was detained for 3 hours by the Polish border guard. The Polish Foreign Ministry later explained that Colonel Jessie had not had the required special visa for a sojourn in the frontier area and had taken photographs within the frontier zone.
85. Regarding the incident involving Ambassador Lane at the Warsaw Airport, see telegram 1188, May 4, from Berlin, p. 445.
86. For a brief account of the arrest of Edwin R. Raymond, Embassy Agriculture Attaché Steven D. Zagorski, Embassy Administrative Assistant, and Mrs. Zagorski on June 30, see Lane, I Saw Poland Betrayed, p. 243.
87. On the night of November 2, 1946, 7 men dressed in Polish army or militia uniforms, armed with sub-machine guns, entered the premises of the Embassy’s Naval Attaché. After some argument, they were persuaded to leave by the Polish militiamen on patrol duty nearby.