1942: Poland

Spirit of Poland.

The spirit of Poland in 1942 was embodied in three phrases. One was the rallying note for Poles everywhere: 'Poland has not ceased to exist.' Another was used by Prime Minister Sikorski on a visit to the United States in 1941: 'I am not the representative of a suffering Poland,' he said, 'I am the representative of a fighting Poland.' And the third, held in historic reverence by Poles, 'For your freedom and for ours.'

Poland gave proof of vigorous life in 1942. The thousandth day of her fighting in this war was reached on May 27; the third anniversary of her invasion by Germany, in September. In April she was credited with downing her five-hundredth German plane, increased by early autumn to 698.

Her government functions from London, advised by a National Council of 32 members from 7 political parties. Her people at home, with no Quislings, continue resistance, publish 100 underground newspapers (said to be read by three million Poles in spite of threat of death), and receive couriers by air from their government in London.

On land, at sea, and in the air Polish forces are fighting, in special units or combined with their allies. In Europe, the Near East, the Middle East, and Africa, Polish citizens are still under the aegis of their government, and Polish broadcasts are spreading.

Diplomatically, Poland put in a vigorous year. New agreements were made with Russia, with Iran, with Czechoslovakia, Greece, and Yugoslavia, with Britain, with China. Previsioning post-war conditions, her government announced policies to clarify now her basic needs for peace-time.

When Germany and Russia went to war against each other in 1941, the event sowed the seeds of a new relationship between Poland and the Soviet, both determined to vanquish Germany, and 1942 has shown the first harvest of this planting in the significant collaboration between them.

German Atrocities.

Poland reviews the first thirty-four months of war as follows: one hundred twenty thousand persons have been executed by German firing squads, sixty thousand tortured to death in concentration camps; seven hundred thousand Jews are believed to have been murdered; two million persons have been driven from their homes; one out of every ten human beings has been killed, tortured, starved, deprived of home and possessions, deported to forced labor, or left to face hunger and privation; extreme and brutal retaliation on great numbers of Poles has been constantly practised by Germany for individual resistance.

One of the developments reported in 1942 was a message from the International Red Cross in Geneva that Germany had refused to grant permission for five thousand starving Polish children to move to Switzerland to be fed by Swiss peasants, though she had formerly allowed ten thousand Greek children to go to Sweden, Switzerland, and Egypt.

Coal in Warsaw is 1,500 zlotys a ton ($300), wood is 400 zlotys a ton ($80); food necessities per day of 2,400 calories per adult (international standards) are met in Germany with 1,200 calories, in Poland with 600.

Poland's Fighting Men; Women's Auxiliaries.

With this as the background, Polish accomplishments take on new meaning. As the summer of 1942 ended, Poland had over 30,000 of her soldiers in motorized divisions in England, over 12,000 in the air corps there; she had in the Near East a 'Carpathian Division' and three Polish Divisions from Russia, with a total of about 60,000 men; she had about 90,000 more Polish soldiers in Russia. With the Polish Navy (possessing more ships than in 1939), her total armed forces approximated 200,000 men, exclusive of thousands in Russia waiting to be sent to training camps. This means that in Europe, Poland was second only to England in numbers of men under arms for the United Nations, while on the Continent, only she and Yugoslavia possessed armies that had carried on the fight without interruption. Fifth in fighting strength among the United Nations, Poland holds third place among them for casualties suffered.

Polish men have fought in operations at Dieppe, over Cologne, the Ruhr, Hamburg, Le Havre, Mannheim; Polish vessels (totaling 100 thousand tons) have aided in supplying Great Britain and Russia; Polish submarines have opened sea-ways.

Polish women also are in uniform, as nurses and in other services. The correspondent of the London Daily Mail speaks of a Polish army strung across the Near East, including airmen, sailors, soldiers, engineers, railway troops, special formations all uniformed, of whom approximately one fourth are women: members of the Polish Women's Auxiliary Force, and wives of soldiers. From the United States, from Argentina and other South American countries the men of Poland have rallied. Reports give a total of 35 million Poles who are carrying on against the enemy.

Recognition of Poland's valor has not been lacking. Prime Minister Churchill has lauded the spirit of Poland and the accomplishments of her fighters; General Kopanski of the Polish Carpathian Brigade was made a commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and was given the Distinguished Service Order for merit in the field, while five officers and eight others from the ranks were awarded British military decorations. Ten ambulances were provided for Polish forces by the General Pulaski Memorial Committee of New York; the Pope early in 1942 gave a special blessing to the Polish Ambassador and his staff, referring to 'Poland, so dear to my heart.' The Polish army has been partially supplied with uniforms and equipment by the British, and in May Britain granted Poland a new loan of five million pounds.

Diplomatic Relations.

Equally significant in the past year have been the developments of Polish diplomacy, governmental policy, post-war planning and cultural extension. Especially important have been the rapprochement with Russia, and the furthering of a Four-Power agreement by Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Greece.

In the case of Russia, Poland advances shrewdly. Whatever past centuries have done to alienate these two, and however grievous were Polish wounds from the Russian invasion of 1939-1941, Poland's government today sees the future in terms of Polish-Soviet friendship.

When, on June 22, 1941, Germany struck at her former Russian ally, Poland and Russia agreed upon a treaty. This was no precipitate volte face for Poland; for on June 19, 1940, Premier Sikorski had recommended the necessity of winning Russia to the Allies, and of basing Polish forces on Russian soil. As a result of the treaty of June 30, 1941, followed by a special agreement on July 30, and a military agreement on August 15, it was decided that 96,000 Polish soldiers in Russia would be fed; that 28,000 Polish soldiers would be evacuated from Russia to Iran; that Russia would grant a loan of 100,000,000 rubles for the use of the Polish civilian population, plus a loan of 300,000,000 rubles for the Polish army.

On May 26, 1942, Great Britain and Russia signed the Anglo-Soviet Pact, setting its duration at twenty years beyond the end of the present war. To this treaty, Prime Minister Sikorski gives his approval as does the Polish National Council.

A special agreement between Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1942 constituted a forward step toward consolidating the Four-Power Agreement. In working out the agreement, both Poland and Czechoslovakia agreed to give up some of their sovereignty, and the terms included a military section. The Polish News Service described the agreement as follows: 'Poland and Czechoslovakia will have a common foreign policy, common defense, economic, financial, social policies, common transport systems, post and telegraph. The agreement provides for a common general staff whose task it will be to prepare means of defense, and in the event of war there will be a unified supreme command. Important provisions of the agreement define the principles on which the Constitutions of both States are to be based. These Constitutions must guarantee to all citizens religious freedom, personal liberty, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of association, the equality of all citizens before the law, the control of Government by representative national bodies freely elected by universal suffrage — in short the Constitutions will guarantee that Poland and Czechoslovakia shall become democratic States in the meaning of the Atlantic Charter.

'But the agreement goes even further, it suggests that the close collaboration of Poland and Czechoslovakia be extended to other States of Central Europe with which the vital interests of the two countries are bound. In a resolution adopted to express their satisfaction at the conclusion of the recent Greek-Yugoslav agreement, the Polish and Czechoslovak Governments emphasize their convictions that the security and prosperity of that part of Europe lying between the Baltic and the Aegean Seas depend primarily on the collaboration of the Polish-Czechoslovak Confederation with the Balkan Union of Greece and Yugoslavia. In this sense, they sponsor cooperation of Central European States with the Balkan Union. This bloc of States comprises more than 120,000,000 people and should be formidable enough to oppose any future German aggression.'

Polish National Council.

Comparable to the importance of Poland's military accomplishments and diplomatic progress in 1942, has been the strengthening of her bonds between the government and the advisory body, known as the Polish National Council. This is particularly necessary with the government not in residence within Polish territory, and likely to be the target of popular suspicion.

The first Council was dissolved on Sept. 3, 1941. On Feb. 3, 1942, a new Polish National Council came into being, having 31 members and providing for a full table of 32, in contrast with the first Council of 24. The new Council was selected by inviting representatives of the four parties belonging to the government (People's, National, Labor, Polish Socialist) to propose five names each, or a total of twenty, equalling two thirds of the National Council roster. To these were added non-party members from national and religious minorities.

The duties of the Council cannot be legislative, since the Polish Constitution provides that in wartime, all legislation is by Presidential decree on the basis of Cabinet resolutions. However, the advisory functions of the Council are significant. These include two realms: the budget and the future structure of the State.

The chairman of the new Council is Professor Stanislaw Grabski, who presides over a body composed of party and group representatives as follows: Independent, 8; Socialist, 5; Peasant Party, 5; Labor, 5; Nationalist, 5; Zionist, 1; Jewish Socialist, 1. The list includes a bishop and a general.

Unquestionably, what the Polish National Council and the government of the Republic of Poland plan for the future Poland which they envisage is of weighty portent not only for the Poles, but for the peace of Europe as well.

Post-War Concerns.

Reference has already been made to the implications of Poland's agreement with Russia, but it is interesting to note that one Polish News Service hints that after the war, Poland will be the most powerful barrier against the spread of Communism in Europe. This is not equivalent to a formula of 'friends in a fight, foes in the peace,' but it does indicate that Poland's concern is not less ideological than territorial: let her be reinstated even by Soviet aid, she will not accept her neighbor's dogmas, and will oppose her agents of propaganda.

But Poland's great concern is Germany. Polish interest in an Eastern European Confederation, concerted with a Balkan Union evokes from Prime Minister Sikorski more than a wish for fraternal peace. Speaking on April 21, 1942, he said: 'Only nations joined in such a union, together with western federations, will be able to assure full control over the Germans.'

Mr. Michal Kwapiszewski, Polish Minister in Washington said in the late spring of 1942: 'The government, the army, and the people of Poland seek only the destruction of Germany, justice for crimes committed, and the restoration of their country as a free and independent Republic in a new and better world.'

Prime Minister Sikorski stated just before midsummer of 1942, that he approved the Anglo-Soviet Treaty, since it extended an alliance against Germany for a period of twenty years and means that a German Government, even renouncing all aggression, would remain under constant suspicion during that time.

The year 1942, therefore, reveals a Poland alive, active, confident, envisaging her role as Watcher of the Eastern Gates and the Voice for what she considers to be peace.