Poland in Iraq

20. The most important multilateral initiative

On 13 January 1942, an international meeting was held at London's St James’s Palace, chaired by Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski. It was devoted to the prosecution of German war criminals. The signatories of the declaration adopted during the meeting were representatives of the governments of nine countries that came under German occupation – Poland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Yugoslavia, as well as the Free France Committee. The representations of the powerful countries that came to London were observers, which was a procedure that allowed the Soviet Union to remain outside of the group of voters. Ambassador Edward Raczyński, who since August 1941 had been the head of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recalled: "I read the declaration in the name of the Polish government. The whole event was the work of our lawyers, Potulicki and Kulski, who prepared, negotiated and directed the resolution. (...) We debated under the lights of the spotlights, and our emergences were broadcast by radio. Eden at the long conference table played the role of host, with Ambassador Biddle from the United States and Ambassador Bogomolov from the USSR on the right."

The adopted declaration announcing the prosecution of the crimes committed by the Axis countries after the war was the most serious Polish multilateral initiative during the Second World War and played an important role in the genesis of the Nuremberg trial.

 

Caption below the illustration:

Meeting room: with the voice of Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski (overlooking the speech, partly obscured), next to him on the left is Edward Raczyński; on the opposite side of the table representatives of British powers and dominions – first from the left is USSR ambassador Aleksandr Bogomolow, second legate of the Republic of China Wen She, third US ambassador Anthony Drexel Biddle, fourth British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, fifth ambassador of Canada Vincent Massey, sixth Stanley Bruce, High Commissioner of Australia.

 

 

21. Diplomacy after the death of General Sikorski

After the Gibraltar disaster and the death of Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski, Stanisław Mikołajczyk became the head of the newly formed Polish government. On 14 July 1943, Tadeusz Romer, a former envoy in Portugal and Japan, took over the office of the minister of foreign affairs in his cabinet, and from 1942 until the break-up of Polish-Soviet relations, the Polish ambassador in Moscow. The period in which he held the minister's portfolio was a time of weakening of Poland's international position. At the conference in Tehran at the end of 1943, in the absence of Poles, the basic shape of Poland's borders was determined. The Soviet government operated at that time by the method of accomplished facts – in the Red Army-occupied eastern territories of Poland it established its own administration and created a subordinate executive governing authority in the form of the Polish Committee of National Liberation. The weakness of the position of the Polish government was symbolized by Mikołajczyk's visit to Moscow in August 1944, when the prime minister failed to even get help for the fighting Warsaw. Western allies demanded that the Polish side give way to the Russians with their demand for recognition of the borders and integrity of the Polish state.

In November 1944, Mikołajczyk’s government, torn apart by internal contradictions regarding foreign policy, Polish-Soviet relations and the future Polish state, resigned. In the new cabinet, formed under the leadership of Tomasz Arciszewski, the office of the last foreign minister recognized by allies of the Polish government in London was taken by Adam Tarnowski, a former envoy in Bulgaria. The removal of the government from influencing the decisions taken regarding Poland was evident at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, where Western leaders agreed to give Poland to the USSR's sphere of influence. Arciszewski's government strongly opposed this, but the protest was not even allowed to be published.

 

Caption below the illustration:

Arrival of the Polish delegation to London after the visit of Prime Minister Stanisław Mikołajczyk in Moscow, 13 August 1944; in the first row in the middle, in an unbuttoned coat is Prime Minister Mikołajczyk, to the right, with a hat in his hand is minister Tadeusz Romer, in a light coat is minister Jan Stańczyk, followed by the Minister of Defence, General Marian Kukiel, and last from the right is former Polish ambassador to Moscow, Stanisław Kot.

 

 

22. Plans for lasting peace

On 12 June 1941, a representative of the Polish government together with representatives of 13 other countries took part in an allied conference in London devoted to cooperation in ensuring in the future lasting peace based on renunciation of aggression. At the end of September 1941, Ambassador Edward Raczyński informed the leaders of the USA and Great Britain about the support of the Polish authorities for the Atlantic Charter adopted on 14 August 1941. On 1 January 1942, Ambassador Jan Ciechanowski, authorized by the government of the Republic of Poland, signed the United Nations Declaration in Washington. The signatory states of the document have since officially appeared as the United Nations.

The Polish side took an active part in activities undertaken under the aegis of the newly formed community, engaging, among others, in the work of the UNRRA – the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, an organization created to help liberated areas in Europe and Asia, and victims of the Second World War. Despite its involvement in the process of building the United Nations, Poland, as the only founding member of the community, did not participate in the United Nations Conference in San Francisco in April and June 1945, at which the United Nations was established. The invitation was suspended until the Provisional Government of National Unity was formed in Poland. During the accompanying conference gala concert at the San Francisco opera, the world-famous pianist Artur Rubinstein preceded his performance with the words: "In this hall where great nations gathered to make this world better, I do not see the flag of Poland, for which this cruel war was fought. So now I will play the Polish national anthem!" The audience responded with a standing ovation.

 

Caption below the illustration:

The original United Nations Declaration – signature of Ambassador Jan Ciechanowski in the right column, third from the bottom.

 

 

23. Doyen of Polish diplomacy

The war affected the life of the Polish ambassador to the Holy See, Kazimierz Papée, in a unique way. Doctor of Laws at the Jagiellonian University, during the interwar period he performed his diplomatic mission in The Hague, Berlin, Copenhagen, Ankara and Tallinn. In 1929 he became consul general in Königsberg, in 1932 – Commissioner General of the Republic of Poland in the Free City of Gdańsk, and in 1936 – a legate of the Republic of Poland in Czechoslovakia. Two months before the German attack on Poland, he began the mission of the Polish ambassador to the Vatican. After the outbreak of war, he repeatedly, although unsuccessfully, sought in Pope Pius XII an unequivocal expression of solidarity with the Polish nation. He also informed the Vatican Secretariat of State about the dramatic situation of the Jewish population in occupied Poland.

Kazimierz Papée also served as the ambassador of the Republic of Poland after the war, because the Holy See did not recognize the new Polish authorities and continued to maintain diplomatic relations with the Polish government in London. He was the ambassador and dean of the diplomatic corps at the Vatican until 1958, and after the death of Pius XII, until 1976, he was the Administrator of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in the Holy See. He died in 1979. He was the longest-serving diplomatic representative of the Polish government-in-exile.

 

Caption below the illustration:

Visit of the command of the Polish Army in the Vatican, 20 June 1944; first in the middle, in uniform, is General Władysław Anders, next to him on the left, is General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski and field bishop Józef Gawlina, on the right, in a diplomatic uniform, is Ambassador Kazimierz Papée.

 

 

24. Long live independent Poland!

At the turn of 1944 and 1945, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still had 7 embassies, 33 legations and 139 consular offices around the world. In February 1945, the leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition powers – Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin – agreed in Yalta to give Poland to the sphere of influence of the USSR. Despite the deteriorating diplomatic position, the Polish posts continued their activities until early July 1945, when they were closed almost without exception after recognition of the Polish government in London was withdrawn and almost all countries established relations with the Provisional Government of National Unity established in Poland in accordance with the Yalta arrangements of the Big Three. The liquidation process was preceded by the destruction of the institution's files and documentation. Care over buildings owned by the Polish state was entrusted to representations of third countries or authorities of the country of office.

On 6 July 1945, the day after the Polish government's withdrawal of recognition from the most important coalition countries, Minister Adam Tarnowski directed a circular to the heads of all Polish institutions in which he stated: "I am convinced that no matter how in terms of service the participation of each of you in the further work of the government will look in the future, you will all, as far as your strength and ability, cooperate in the fight for the victory of ideals close to the heart of every true Pole. Long live independent Poland! "

 

Caption below the illustration:

The Circular of Minister Tarnowski from 6 July 1945

 

Edited by: Ambassador Marek Pernal