Polish, Czech Notes Rejected

Northern Advocate, 21 October 1949, Page 5

Polish, Czech Notes Rejected

LONDON, Thu. (11 a.m.)— Britain, in Notes published today told Poland and Czechoslovakia that the Soviet Union, and not Britain, as they alleged, had violated the Potsdam Agreement on Germany. The British Notes rejected Polish and Czech protests earlier this month against the establishment of the German Federal Republic at Bonn. The Polish and Czech Notes themselves followed a Soviet protest to the Western powers which had already been rejected. Britain, in the Note to Poland, claimed that the “establishment of the German Federal Government, to which the Polish Government takes , exception, is merely a development of the policy forced upon the Western powers by the action of the Soviet Union in refusing to treat Germany as a unit in accordance With the decision of the Potsdam conference.” > STEP TO UNITY ' Establishment of the Bonn regime was described as the “greatest advance towards German unity since the assumption of Allied control in Germany.” It was hoped that incorporation of the Soviet zone, in accordance with the Potsdam principles, would not be long delayed. The Note to Czechoslovakia, which was similar to that to Poland, rejected an allegation that members of the Bonn Government had collaborated with the Nazi regime and that the Western powers were encouraging the revival of Hitlerism.

It charged the Soviet Union with cmcouraging Nazis in East-zone public life, which, it said, "is, no doubt, a source of uneasiness to the Czechoslovak Government.”