POLES ALLEGE POLICE TERROR IN FRANCE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23116, 1 December 1949, Page 7

POLES ALLEGE POLICE TERROR IN FRANCE

(N.Z.P. A. —Reuter —Copyright.) PARIS, Nov. 29. Poland tonight, in a Note to the French Foreign Office, accused France of having unleashed a wave of terror against Polish citizens in France, thereby violating the freedoms guaranteed by the United Nations’ declaration of human rights. The Note said that France, by rounding up and expelling 27 Polish citizens was embarking on a campaign of antiPolish hatred and injustice. The French Foreign Office said tonight that 1(1 French citizens are being held in Polish prisons. Only one Pole, Josef Sczcerbinski, the Polish ViceConsul at Lille, was still being held by the French police. M. Schuman said today that ho did not expect an open break between the two countries. He added a warning: “If I am mistaken the French Government has the means to safeguard the interests of France and. the private interests of French citizens.’’

Seven of the 27 Poles expelled from France, who arrived in Warsaw today, told stories of beatings and threats by the French police, although none showed signs of ill-treatment. M. Artur Kowalski, the former editor of a Polish daily newspaper in Paris, said that while in the Paris cells he met Sczcerbinski, who “looked dazed and seemed unable to recognise him.” Kowalski said he was shocked by Sczcerbinski's appearance. Sczcerbinski said he had been severely beaten and expected "something * still worse because the real investigation was yet to begin.” Another Pole, Zdislaw Fransik, aged 27, a miner and education worker, said he was beaten three times and kept 16 hours without food while the French police tried to make him confess to subversive activities in France. POLAND TO DEPORT FRENCH ARRESTEES (10 a.m.) WARSAW, Nov. 30. The Polish radio announced that two French stenographers who were arrested on November 27 would be expelled from Poland together with other French persons.