The Press MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1944. Russia and Poland

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24151, 10 January 1944, Page 4

The Press MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 1944. Russia and Poland

The crossing of the pre-war Polish frontier by Russian troops has so long seemed imminent that when it actually took place discussion of its political implications seems to have been little stimulated. Most British and American commentators took the view that the only sensible way to deal with the problem of Poland’s frontiers was to put it in cold storage till the end of the war. If this were possible it would certainly be desirable. But the one certainty is that the problem cannot be kept in cold storage, if only because the policy and the methods of the Russian army of occupation must profoundly affect what happens to Poland after the war. The immediate question which must arise is whether that part of Poland which is reconquered from Germany will be administered for the duration of the war solely by the Russian army of occupation or by some mixed authority on which others of the United Nations are represented. About the time of the Moscow conference Mr Cordell Hull indicated, in answer to a question at a press conference, that the army which first reached a territory previously held by Germany was to be regarded as the army of occupation, with the right to take over civil administration for the duration of the war. But in this matter Russia has established a precedent which points in a different direction. She has asked for, and been given, a voice in determining the policy to be followed in the administration of southern Italy. She can therefore hardly take it amiss if Britain and the United States ask for a share in determining the policy to be followed in Poland. It is perhaps in anticipation of this point that the Russian press has lately been emphasising that Russia’s boundaries are not a subject open for discussion, either now or at the peace conference. In the Soviet Government’s view, Russia’s boundary in Poland is the “ Ribbentrop line,” drawn when the German and Russian armies met in Poland in 1939, a view which explains the announcement that certain territory now recaptured has been “ re- “ covered ” as an integral part of the Soviet Union. The official Polish attitude is, of course, equally unyielding. The whole of the area occupied by Russia in 1939 is claimed as Polish national territory, and suggestions that Poland might be willing to concede territory in the east in return for concessions of much more valuable territory in Silesia and East Prussia have been coldly received. For the British and American Governments the task of smoothing over a difficult situation is complicated by the fact that the Polish and Russian Governments have had no diplomatic relations since the breach of April, 1943. In the meantime, the Polish Prime Minister has gone to the United States, where there is a Polish population of some 3,000,000 and where Polish nationalism has always had widespread popular support. Here, as Mr Joseph Harsch has pointed out in the “ Christian Science Monitor,” lies the real danger of the RussianPolish situation. Thanks to Mr Hull and the Moscow and Teheran conferences, relations between Russia and the United States are better than they have been for several years; but this new cordiality would vanish rapidly if American public opinion, were aroused, as it could easily be aroused, on Poland’s behalf.