860C.00/12–2446
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Eastern European Affairs (Elbrick)
| Participants: | Mr. Robert Cecil, of the British Embassy |
| Mr. Francis B. Stevens—EE | |
| Mr. C. Burke Elbrick—EE |
Mr. Cecil brought a copy of the text of the note which the British Government had received from the Polish Government in reply to the former’s note of November 22 which expressed anxiety concerning the forthcoming Polish elections.1 Mr. Cecil said that British Ambassador Bentinck in Warsaw had counseled the British Foreign Office to make a dignified rather than a brusque acknowledgment to the Polish note, refuting the charges brought by the Polish Government. He said that the British Government is particularly concerned about the Polish charges concerning the repatriation of Polish troops and added that the main reason for the delay in this repatriation was the fact that the Polish Government, itself, had not provided sufficient officers to “screen” the soldiers volunteering to return to Poland. He said that the British Government is definitely under the impression that the Polish Government does not desire to have these troops return to Poland before the elections.
Mr. Cecil said that Ambassador Bentinck had suggested that the Poles might be withholding their reply to the American note of November 22 pending the outcome of the economic negotiations now being conducted in Washington with Mr. Minc, the Polish Minister of Industry. He asked whether we had reached any agreement with Minc regarding compensation for nationalized properties and the return of the Polish gold, and he was informed that we had reached no agreement so far and that Mr. Minc was scheduled to return to Poland on December 27.
With respect to the resettlement of the Anders Army now in the [Page 552] United Kingdom, Mr. Cecil said that the British Foreign Office had been informed by Mr. Ford of our Embassy in London that henceforth US transit visas would be issued to such individuals only if they possessed, in addition to the visa of the country of their destination, a visa for a second country, or a return visa for the United Kingdom. He said that Mr. Ford had explained that this was due to the fact that a number of Polish soldiers bound for Cuba had been refused admission into that country, to which they were proceeding via the United States. Mr. Cecil said that this matter was causing his Foreign Office some concern and asked if we could confirm this new procedure. He was told that the matter would be taken up with the appropriate officers of the Department and that he would be informed as quickly as possible.
Mr. Cecil said that he was informed that the President had issued a statement recently regarding the possibility of admitting displaced persons into the United States in excess of the quota restrictions. He was not sure that this statement was in addition to that issued in December 1945.2 He was told that this matter would be checked and he would be informed.
Upon leaving, Mr. Cecil inquired whether we had given any more thought to the idea of making a public announcement through the press regarding the division of seats in the Polish Parliament, which appears to have been decided already by the “bloc” parties in Poland. He was told that this matter was being kept in mind but that no action had yet been planned.
- The note of the Polish Foreign Ministry to the British Ambassador was dated December 19 and was released to the press by the Polish authorities on December 22.↩
- Presumably the reference is to President Truman’s directive of December 22, 1945, aimed at facilitating the immigration of refugees and displaced persons up to the full limit of the law and to the President’s remarks at his press conference on October 24, 1946, regarding his hope for a rearrangement of American immigration policy in order to admit additional political refugees. See Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1945, p. 572, and ibid., 1946, p. 464, respectively.↩