82. Editorial Note
From June 26 throughout the summer, Ambassador Beam continued to negotiate with Remryk, Kotlicki, Director General of the Ministry of Finance, about a settlement of the claims question while the technical talks between the Polish and U.S. claims experts continued in Warsaw from July 6 to the middle of August. When Tadeusz Lychowski, Economic Minister of the Polish Embassy, was in Warsaw in June, he called on Beam on June 25 to express his concern that linking nationalization claims with progress on other economic questions would produce serious political effects in Poland. Beam replied that it was necessary for his government to consider the future of overall economic relations with Poland in which claims compensation played an important role.
At a meeting on June 26 when Kotlicki mentioned the possibility of a $20-million lump sum figure. Beam repeated that the $125-million U.S. proposal represented a great reduction from the total value of claims U.S. Government officials believed valid. Kotlicki stated the Polish side did not wish to prolong the negotiations and he hoped agreement could be reached by the end of July. Copies of telegrams 1710 and 1714 from Warsaw, July 26, summarizing the meetings of June 25 and 26, respectively, [Page 230] are in Department of State, Central Files, 248.1141/7–2659. Copies of the telegrams and minutes summarizing the claims talks by the experts are in the Washington National Records Center, Warsaw Embassy Files: FRC 65 A 160, 500.8 Nationalization 1959—U.S.-Polish Claims Talks.
After his return from Warsaw, Lychowski met with Foy D. Kohler, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, on July 6 to discuss the claims negotiations. Lychowski said the $20-million offer was based on an estimate by experts of the prewar value of American property in Poland less 40 percent for war damage. Kohler replied that the Polish offer of $20 million was “ridiculous and did not advance the negotiations.” Kohler concluded, however, that it was his government’s intention to seek “a fair and reasonable settlement.” A copy of the memorandum of conversation, dated July 7, is ibid.
At a meeting with Kotlicki on July 31, Beam stated the United States was willing to accept $75 million in settlement of claims for their nationals. Kotlicki countered with an offer of $24 million. On August 11, Beam told Kotlicki that the Polish offer was unacceptable. After the meeting, Beam told Kotlicki privately that it was his government’s desire to maintain and expand U.S.-Polish economic relations but that the main obstacle to future economic relations was the claims settlement problem. Copies of telegram 192 from Warsaw, August 1, which summarizes the meeting of July 31, and telegrams 244 and 245 from Warsaw, both August 12, which summarize the discussions of August 11, are in Department of State, Central Files, 248.1141/8–159 and 248.1141/8–1259.
During August and September, Polish Embassy officials laid great stress on Poland’s urgent need for agricultural commodities under P.L. 480. The Committee on Non-Agricultural Commodities, as part of the economic negotiations, had met on June 18 and 24 at Lychowski’s request to discuss the possibilities for private credits and technical assistance. Copies of the minutes of these meetings are in the Washington National Records Center, Warsaw Embassy Files: FRC 65 A 160, 500 Economic Matters 1959: US Aid to Poland—Talk and Position Papers. On August 17, Lychowski met with Beale and presented his government’s request for additional P.L. 480 assistance to compensate for shortages of cotton and fodder. Lychowski called on Beale again on August 21 to request more prompt action and to explain that his government believed that aid discussions and the claims negotiations should not be linked. He said that the favorable climate resulting from the Vice President’s recent visit to Poland and the current fodder and cotton shortages warranted emergency aid to Poland.
On August 28, Beale told Lychowski that the United States was prepared to reconvene the U.S.-Polish Committee on Agricultural Commodities. Polish officials presented on September 4 to the Committee [Page 231] their request for fodder grains, wheat, cotton, and vegetable fats with a total export market value of $58.5 million. Copies of the memoranda of conversation dated August 21 and 28, which summarize the Beale–Lychowski discussions of August 17, 21, and 28, are in Department of State, Central Files, 411.4841/8–2159 and 411.4841/8–2859. A brief summary of the Polish request for P.L. 480 commodities is in a memorandum from Kohler to Dillon, October 1, Ibid., 033.4811/10–159. Copies of the minutes of the meetings of the U.S.-Polish Committee on Agricultural Commodities on September 4 and 15 are in the Washington National Records Center, Warsaw Embassy Files: FRC 65 A 160, 500 Economic Matters 1959: US Aid to Poland—Talk and Position Papers.
Discussions on the claims and economic questions continued throughout September and October. On September 8, Deputy Foreign Minister Winiewicz indicated to Beam the Polish Government might revise its claims proposal if progress could be made on the restoration of the most-favored-nation treatment and the Polish emergency request for further agricultural products. He advocated considering a comprehensive, long-range U.S.-Polish economic program. On September 21, Beale informed Lychowski that since the claims negotiations were at an impasse, the Polish request for P.L. 480 commodities would not be met in full. A copy of telegram 447 from Warsaw, September 8, which summarized Winiewicz’s discussion with Beam, is in Department of State, Central Files, 248.1141/9–859. A copy of Kohler’s October 1 memorandum to Dillon, which summarizes the October economic negotiations, is Ibid., 003.4811/10–159.
On September 28, while Beam was in Washington, Kotlicki communicated to Frank Siscoe, Chargé of the Embassy in Warsaw, a new position regarding a claims settlement: for compensating economic advantages, they would agree to up to $32 million as a lump-sum settlement, the Polish estimate of the true value of American claims. The compensating economic advantages were: 1) most-favored-nation status; 2) release of blocked assets, estimated by the Poles at $2 million; and 3) lightening of the burden of repayment on debt owed to the U.S. Government. A copy of telegram 578 from Warsaw, September 28, which transmitted a summary of Kotlicki’s statement, is Ibid., 248.1141/9–2859. In his October 1 memorandum to Dillon, Kohler commented that the new Polish offer was “the most encouraging development in the negotiations to date. We doubt that the Poles will agree to settlement as high as $50 million but we do not feel that $32 million is their final offer.” (Ibid., 033.4811/10–159)