Speech #780182071

The statementextension of LendLease Act. H. R. 4254. page 50. and appenlix J. page 251asserts thatArrangements are being made between the Polish Government in exile. the Soviet Union. and the Foreign Economic Administration whereby Polish refugees in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics will be supplied with clothing and foodstuffs. These refugees. who escaped to the Soviet Union frum Nazioccupied Poland. are the families and relatives whose mehfolk are now. iii the Polish armed forces fighting side by side with the Allies. The Soviet Government has indicated its willingness to cooperate inthe delivery of these supplies to the Poles. The fact is. according to the Poles. that there are no Polish refugees in Russia. but 1.500.000 persons forcibly and cruelly deported from their homes in eastern Poland during its occupation by Soviet Russia in the period following the RibbentropMolotov partition agreement and the German attack. The arrangements about lendlease help for those deportees referred to in the statement as in force at present. had in reality only been working during the short time after diplomatic relations between Russia and Poland had been resumed at the initiative of General Sikorski in July 1941. Unfortunately. already in the summer and early fall of 1942. the Soviet Government destroyed the relief administration set up by the Polish Embassy in Kuybyshev. and seized huge quantities of lendlease supplies prepared for distribution among the Poles. After a brief period of improvement in the reciprocal SovietPolish relations in the winter of 194243. the Soviet Government declared in January 1943. that all the deported Polish citizens had become Soviet subjects. Since the severance of diplomatic relations with the Polish Government by the Soviets in April 1943 under the pretext of the tragic and mysterious Katyn affair. no help whatsoever has been reaching the 1.500.U00 Polish deportees. the majority of whom is constituted by women and children. mostly families of Polish soldiers and prisoners of war. Since that time. all the supplies have been definitely confiscated by the Soviet Government. What then is the use of concealing in Mr.