Dunn-Harriman-Mikołajczyk conversation, 11 a.m.
| Present | ||
|---|---|---|
| United States | Poland | |
| Mr. Dunn | Deputy Prime Minister Mikołajczyk | |
| Mr. Matthews |
860c.01/8-945
Memorandum by the Polish Deputy Prime Minister
[Babelsberg,] July 24, 1945
[Translation]
Secret
Poland is to be strong, free, independent and sovereign. Poland is to live in alliance with Soviet Russia, with Great Britain and France, and in friendship with the United States and the Slav countries.
This is possible on the following conditions:
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The Soviet forces and the NKVD should quit the territories accorded to, and delimited for, the Polish State.
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The Polish Army is to become a national army.
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The so-called Security should cease to terrorize the community.
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The émigrés and Polish troops should return swiftly, and elections should be held, before which the western frontiers should be settled.
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There should be freedom of the Press and freedom of concourse and the genuine organization of the five Parties in Poland. The PPR (translators note – the Polish Labor Party or really, the Communist Party) does enjoy these freedoms, the PPS (Polish Socialist Party) only enjoys them in part, whilst the Democratic party is at this moment more or less an extension of the PPR.
The Peasant’s Party, thanks to which the Provisional Government of National Unity has been formed and the Polish Government recognised, does not have freedom of action, nor does the Labor Party.
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Personal freedom and the right of property should be safeguarded within the framework of the law.
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The elections should take place at the latest in December or February on the basis of the electoral laws resulting from the 1921 constitution. There must be found a method of ensuring the fairness of the elections. Fair elections are impossible as long as Soviet troops and the NKVD remain in Poland. Elections on the basis of the 1921 constitution are rendered impossible by interpretations relating to the electoral system. These follow the conception of the PKWN (translator’s note: Polish Committee of National Liberation), which was based on the 1921 constitution, and they introduce artificial majorities by the appointment – beside the political parties – of various professional and social organizations which are adjuncts of a party already possessing its own representatives in Parliament (Sejm).
860c.01/8-1445
Memorandum by the Polish Deputy Prime Minister
[Translation]
[Undated]
(?) As to [To add to (?)] the preceding note from which it follows that at this stage of the dispute one should not limit himself by the relatively small territory which anyway with the support of Russia may by the force of facts appear to be included in Poland.
At this moment the struggle is about the independence and sovereignty of Poland, and the dispute about borders unless it is predetermined is another problem.
To save the independence of Poland the territory should be determined (established?) and the elections should take place as soon as possible.
At the recognition of territory the conditions could be put forward, And so:
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Elections – freedom for parties and for press, eventually the international control of elections.
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Removal of the Soviet troops and NKVD.
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Return and help for return of Polish army from the West in a whole and all émigrés in general.
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Help in repatriation of Poles from the East.
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Immediate stop of dismembering (taking to pieces) of factories and disjoining the railroad tracks on the territory given to Poland and full control by Poland of political, economic and communications administration.
The Soviet transport through Polish territory on the basis of a plan presented by Polish authorities.
Poland is to take part in the assistance to Europe by its industrial production and later by agricultural products. Therefore Poland must be completely freed and can not be hampered from inside by senseless dismembering of industrial objects, railroad tracks and by depriving it of agricultural machinery and livestock.
860c.01/8-945
Memorandum by the Polish Deputy Prime Minister
[Babelsberg,] July 24, 1945
[Translation]
Secret
Poland, in order to safeguard her existence, development, and independence, must – after the loss of territories in the East, (to which loss the population cannot psychically reconcile itself) acquire in the west, the frontier of the Neisse, Stettin and the Delta.
This frontier should be determined immediately for the following main reasons:
(a) The population east of the Curzon Line, if it is not to perish for ever, must be boldly encouraged to return and transfer to Western Poland.
(b) The population of the west must be repatriated with utmost speed, and the Western Territories must absorb it; the date of the elections is contingent on their swift return.
(c) If these questions had to be dependent on a tardier fixing of the frontiers, then there would be no possibility either of transfer of population from the east or the west, or of holding elections there. Soviet Armies would stand as hosts in those territories and Poland would lose the chance of directing her own national economy within the area of the entire state. The partial holding of elections, after the losses east of the Curzon Line and without the delimitation of the western frontiers would only cover a small portion of the country’s territory.
(d) This state of affairs would not only overthrow the State system of economy, but it would render impossible any normalisation of conditions in the country, which might prejudice the question of the State’s independence or of its system.
(e) The lack of opportunities for transfer to the west of population from the overcrowded central districts of Poland, leads to the parcellation of peasant farm holdings and estates inside Poland, however healthy the agricultural structure of the country, and it will not be possible to effect a recovery.
(f) If Poland does not take over these territories soon, then there will be no point in a later occupation of these derelict areas.