The Australian Legation and care for Polish citizens in the Soviet Union during World War II

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Acta Poloniae Historica88, 2003P L IS S N 0 0 0 1 - 6 8 2 9

Daniel Boćkow ski

THE AUSTRALIAN LEGATION AND CARE

FOR PO LISH CITIZENS IN THE SOVIET UNIONDURING WORLD WAR I I

Two events are regarded as the breaking point in Polish-Sovietrelations: the end of direct care by the Polish gov ernm ent-in -exilein Londo n for the Polish civilian population resettled in the S ovietUn ion from 1939 to 1941 and the departure of the worker s of thePolish Embassy. The network of relief activities that had beenorganized locally had already been liquidated. Few today remem -

ber that the Polish governme nt never resigned from direct effortsto help Poles in the Soviet Union. Such an action was organizedthanks to the Australian Legation 1.

On May 22, 1943, less than a month after AmbassadorTadeu sz Rom er and his personnel left the USSR , the Australiansfaced an unusually diff icult challenge. The care of 'Polish inte-rests in the Soviet Union' was entrusted to them, which wasunderstood to mean primarily help for those Poles finding them-selves in that coun tiy 2 . O ne cannot speak ab out care for all Polesliving at this time in the USSR, but only for those individuals,

1 The British, in the name of relations with the Soviet Union, did not want torepresent in any way the interests of the Poles. The Americans and Canadiansdem urred for the sam e reason. Only Australia, in the person of Joh n C urtin, thepremier, un dertook such a difficult task. For more information on the relationshipof the Anglo-Saxon states to the affairs of Poles remaining in the USSR, seeM a g d a l e n a H u ł a s , Państw a anglosaskie w obec problemu reprezentowa nia inte-resów polskich w ZSRR po 26 kw ietnia 1943 r. (Anglo-Saxon States and Repre-senting of Polish Interests in the Soviet Union after April 2 4, 1943), "DziejeNajnowsze" N° 1/2001, vol. XXXIII, pp. 107-122.

2 The Australians announced that they were ready to represent Polish interestsin the Soviet Union earlier, on May 13th, but the Poles still held out hope that theCanadians would represent them.



102 •DANIEL BOĆKOWSKI

who, in accordance with the def ined position of the Soviet gov-ernm ent on Ja nu ary 16, 1943, we re formally recogn ized as Polishcitizens3 . The situation was extremely complicated and the Aus-tralians fa ced an esp ecially dif f icult task.

Th is w as alread y the second time there had been the prob lemof Polish interests being represented in the Soviet Un ion an d, asearlier, success was not guaranteed 4 , al l the more becauseformally the Australian Legation had existed for only threemonths 5 . This does not mean that the help that was given wasbad or that it did not in fact exist. Simply, the situation of the

Polish population in the Soviet Union and general relationsbetw een Polan d and the Soviet Union were complicated, an d theAu stralia n Leg ation ha d only begu n to learn how to deal with thepowers in the Kremlin. However, as the former second secretaryo f the Austra l ian Legat ion Pe te r H e y d o n wrote in h is memoirs ,the personnel of the legation were satisf ied i f they could makecontact directly with the highest powers at the Kremlin. TheLegation undertook to strengthen their relationship with theKrem lin, an d its staf f wa s 'up to date ' on internationa l polit ics6 .

The Australian Legation in the Soviet Union was in charge of

the formal care for Polish cit izens until August 1944, when thePolish National Liberation Committee (PKWN) began its activ ity,with consequences for the international situation for the Polishleaders in London. The Legation, representing the Polish govern-

3 W ithdra wn as of the Au gu st 1941 decision granting Polish citizenship to personsof Polish nationality living in the eastern districts of the Second Repub lic, w hichthe Soviets incorporated on November 1-2, 1939. Only persons living before thewar in the central and western regions of Poland were recognized as Polishc it iz en s. S ee D a nie l B o ć k o w s k i , Czas nadziei. Obyw atele Rzeczy pospolitejPolskiej w ZSRR i opieka nad nimi placów ek polskich w latach 1940-1943 (Timeand H ope. Care of Polish Citizens in the Soviet Union by Polish Institutions in

1940-1943), Wa rszawa 1999, pp. 338-339.4 The first time occurred in September 1939, when Ambassador Wacław Grzybo-wski turned to Willia m Seeds (HM Amb assado r to Moscow ) to requ est assistancefor the building of the Polish E mb assy in Moscow as well as for Polish citizens inthe Soviet Union. In light of Soviet opposition and the unclear position of theBritish, promises of help did not materialize.5 Australia sent its diplomatic mission to the Soviet Union in January 1943.William Slater led the mission.6 Maria D a n i l e w i c z Z i e l i ń s k a , Australia w roli opiekuna spraw polskich wSow ietach w latach 19 43-1944 (Australia a s Protector oj Polish Interests in theSoviet Union. 1943-1944), "Zeszyty Historyczne" N° 28, Paryż 1974, p. 227. Seealso Pete r H e y d o n, Protecting Polish Interests in the USSR, 19 43-44: An Episodein Austral ian Representation, "Australian Journal of Politics and History" N° 2XVIII, 1972.



AUSTRALIAN LEGATION AND CARE FOR POLISH CITIZENS 103

me nt, work ed on an equal basis with the Union of Polish Patriots.Th e Pol ish comm unists w ere not the only ones involved with carefor the Poles in the Soviet Union at that t ime, but the A ustr alian shad n either the f inancia l m eans nor the sam e possibil ities as thePolish Communist Party, supported by the Kremlin. In spite ofthis lack of supp ort, the tasks of the Austra lian Leg ation includ edprovid ing f ina ncial aid to the Polish refugees, of fer ing assista ncein obtaining visas and permission for travel outside the SovietUnion, and car ing for the abandoned property o f the Embassyand its documents as well as the archives of the diplomaticdelegation returned by the Soviet Union.

Poles l iv ing in the Soviet Un ion found ou t that the Au stralianLegation had been entrusted with these tasks only i f they hadaccess to the press. A short note appeared in "Izvestia" after theintervent ion o f Ke ith O f f icer with the Vice C om miss ion er o fFore ign Affairs, Alek san der Kornijczu k, on July 3, 1943. Form allythe mission of the Australians started earl ier that year on May25th. The next day this information appeared in the "SydneyMorning Hera ld"7 . Ed wa rd Raczyń ski, Actin g M inister for ForeignAf fa irs , a lso informed Rom er, wh o was staying in Tehera n, aboutthe deve lopment8 . That same day approximate ly 3.6 mil l ionrubles 9 in 16 bags were transferred to the Australian Legationand the Austra l ians were informed about the f inancial resourcesin the ban k accou nts be longing to the former Pol ish emba ssy inthe Soviet Un ion. Trans ferred also to the Au stralia n side was theabandoned property o f the embassy in Kuibyshev 10. The moneywas placed in a new bank account, The Austral ian Legat ion tothe USSR Account N° 2' , init ial ly in the State Bank of the SovietUnion in Kuibyshev, and then in the Bank of Fore ign Trade inthe Soviet Union in Moscow 11 . The fo l lowing indiv iduals w orked

7 M . H u l a s , Państwa anglosaskie, p. 117.8 E . Raczy nskl to T. Rom er, tel. N° 307. Ma y 26, 1943, the Polish Institute andSikorski Museu m. A. 11,49Sow.26. The comm unication from the Polish TelegraphAgency ( PAT ) came ou t the same day.9 This was only a part of the funds at the disposal of the Polish Embassy inKu ibyshev, not includin g the mon ey sent before the liquidation of the post as wellas those who founds held by local Polish representatives.10 The Soviet authorities took part of this property (this was mainly borrowedfurniture ) ; the remainder was div ided between the Austral ian and Canadianlegations.11 Cas h Receipts and Statement of Expenditure on behalf of the Polish Government1st August to 31 st October 1943. Archiwum Akt Nowych — Archives of Modern




In the Australian Legation on behalf of Poles: Keith Off icer ascharg é d'af faires; W il l iam Slater as f irst secretary; Peter Hey donas second secretary; and James Joseph Maloney and J. M.Mc Millan . Off ice r supervised Polish af fairs and main tained form alcontact with the Polish diplomatic post in Teheran. In 1944,Maloney replaced him and assumed the unfortunate obl igat ionof f inishing the rel ie f mission and safeguarding the f inancialresources and documents sti l l on the Australian side.

Th e begin ning s of this activ ity were unusua lly dif f icult, as thePolish side pressured to include in the personnel of the L egation

several Poles acquainted with the situation, for which the Aus-tralians most def initely did not want to agree, saying that theycould manage excellently themselves. The eventual presence ofthe Poles would only complicate the entire action 12 . Furtherproblems appeared when stabi l iz ing the means o f communica-tion of the Polish side with the Australian Legation init ial ly inKuibyshev and then in Moscow. The Poles wanted all of thecorrespondence to go through Teheran, where Romer couldcoordina te its circulation13 . The intention was to use the Brit ishdiplom atic p ost for the sending of letters. It wa s f inally establishedthat contact would take place through the Australian House in

London. The possibil ity of direct contact between the AustralianLegation and the Polish post in Teheran was conditionally ac-cepted 1 4 .

The f irst serious obstacle was the establishment of a groupof Aus tralia ns wh o could of fer help and determine wh at that helpcould look l ike. From the start it was clear that help could beprovided only for those the Kremlin recognized as Polish cit izens.This group could number from ten to thirty thousand people,dep end ing on the position of the local Soviet govern me nt an d thef inal results of the requirem ent for passports, to wh ich fe l l v ictim

deportees form ally recognized by the Soviet note of Jan ua ry 1943as Polish cit izens. The group also included the staf fs of the

Records (henceforth: AAN) , Ministerstwo Pracy i Opieki Społecznej Rządu RP wLondynie — Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of the Government of theRepublic of Poland in London (henceforth: MPiOS), sygn. 43, pp. 19-21. AustralianLegation to the U.S.S.R. Account N° 2, attachment to Report N° II on the Protectionof Polish Interests. From 1st August to 31 st October 1943 , AA N, MPiOS, call N° 43,pp. 14-15.1 2 S e e a ls o M . H u ła s , Państw a anglosaskie, pp. 118-119.13 Rom er was su pposed to fulfi l l also an advisory function in Polish concerns.1 4

M . H u ł a s , Państwa anglosaskie, p. 121.




institutions over which the Soviets had not yet established con-trol . However, this was a small group of only a few individuals.The greatest problem turned out to be the extent of Sovietterritory. People with the right to expect aid we re sp read out fro mArkh ange lsk to the set t lements of Kazakhstan or Kyrgystan . Th eAustral ians learned the geography of the Soviet Union quickly.Th e d istances m ade quick contact with the deportees impossib le ,and th is was the fundamental factor on which care depended.The requirement that help could be d ispensed exclusive ly onlyafter the co nf irm ation of an individual 's identity, togethe r with awritten answer to the address of the Legation, turned out not tobe feasible. Init ial ly, the Austral ians were n ot able to m an ag e b oththe system of communicat ion with in the Soviet Union and theother dif f icult ies: f inancial ; the distances they had to overcomein order to get to a functioning postal-telegraph of f ice; andmatters of insurance. The NKVD could consider each of thesetypes of activity as anti-Soviet, and in strict cases even asespionage activity with al l the implied consequences.

Th e Au stra l ians s hould not be blam ed for this situation; th eyacted only on the recommendat ions of the Poles, who f rom thevery beg in ning reserved for themselves the r ight of decid ing w howould receive aid, the method of transfer (after previous conf ir-mation that a given person exists) , and the amount (400 rubles) .The hands of the Legation were t ied, especial ly when it came tom akin g up the l ist of deportees, a task that wo uld l ist ind ividua lsaccord ing to h ighest pr iori ty and which f rom the very beg inningm et with im m ense d i f ficul t ies. During the fi rst few mo nths of theAustra l ian assistance of Poles, further te legrams went f rom Of-f icer to Romer with requests for an explanation on the fol lowingissues: how m any Poles the Austra l ian Legat ion wa s expected toassist; for how many individuals did the Poles have actual

addresses; the criteria to be applied after negotiat ions with theRussian side concerning the organization of evacuation of Pol ishfami l ies f rom the Soviet Union 15 . The Austral ians feared, rightly,as it later turned out, that the inform ation they received f rom thePol ish authori t ies was of ten incorrect16 , especia l ly when ad-

15 Odpow iedź T. Romera z 14 czerwca 1943 r. dla K. Officer'a na jego telegram z7 czerw ca 1943 r.(T. Romer's Answ er of June 14, 1943 to K. Officer's Telegram ofJune 7, 1943). AAN, Poselstwo RP w Teheranie — Legation of the Republic ofPoland in Teher an (henceforth: Poselstw o) , 93, pp. 1 12-113.16 Keith O fficer wrote abou t this in his reports to the Polish Leg ation in Teher an.

See ibidem.




dresses did not result from the factual knowledge of the workersof the former Pol ish Embassy in the Soviet Union but only fromoral information written down and transferred by the mil itary orthe Jewish Agency. An addit ional di f f iculty was the transfer ofthe Legat ion f rom Kuibyshev to Moscow, which occurred inOctober 1943 and paralyzed the organization of activity for afurther period of t ime 17 .

In the middle of 1943 a special evacuation l ist wa s draw n u pfor Off icer in Teheran, a l ist with 13,419 names, those who, inthe opin ion of the Poles, should be the first to be evac uated fromthe Soviet Union 1 8 . This was the so-cal led Kuibyshev List, com-piled from th e data of mil i tary fi les. This l ist include d inform ationabout 6 ,989 Poles. Because of imm ense pressure f rom the Jew ishcom m unity , a specia l Jewish C omm ittee was forme d with the a imof explain ing the matter of evacu ating the Jew ish pop ulation fromthe Soviet Union; th is Jewish Committee added in format ionabout 6,430 Pol ish Jews to the l ist19 . Unfortunately, this infor-mation was not only incomplete, but eighty per cent of the l istwas completely useless. The l ist included altered names as wellas names of places in phonetic English transcription. More thanhal f o f the addresses we re f rom the pre-am nesty per iod; many of

them also indicated that the individuals were not and never hadbeen Pol ish cit izens 20 . In spite of further reminders, Jewishof f icials did no t veri fy this informa tion; the ob ligation then fel l tothe Centra l Bureau of Evidence 21 .

17 Report N° II, pp. 14-15.18 In spite of numerous attempts to make corrections, the information given onthis l ist was wildly incomplete.19 Nota Poselstwa RP w Teheranie do MSZ Rząd u RP w Londy nie w spraw ie listyew akuacy jnej (Note of the Polish Legation in Teheran to the Ministry of ForeignAffa irs of the Polish G overnment in London on Eva cuation Lists), AA N, Poselstw o.

93, pp. 33-37.2 0 Pismo Kierow nika Ambasa dy RP w ZSRR (w likwidacji) I Sekretarza ZbigniewaJakubskiego z 14 w rześnia 1943 r. do Ministra Spraw Zagranicznych w Londyniew spraw ie przebiegu prac nad listami ew akuacyjnymi (Letter of September 14.1943 . from Hea d of the Polish Embass y in the Soviet Union (in liquidation) ISecretary. Zbigniew Jakubski, to the Minister of Foreign Affa irs in London onProgress of Preparing Ev acuation Lists), AA N, Poselstw o, 93, pp. 33-34 .21 T. R om er initiated the Central Bureau of Evidence of Polish Citizens in the East(CBE). Funds for his init iative came from, among other sources, the treasury ofthe Polish E mb assy in the Soviet Union (in l iquidation). Fifteen peop le worked onthe task of preparing a special f i le for the departm ent of Help of the Polish Legationin Teheran based on the materials and records transferred from Kuibyshev. Inthe fl ies was supposed to be found information on all Polish cit izens remaining




Bec ause the l ist of individuals prepared by the Jew ish Com -mittee was so inaccurate, the entire evacuation l ist was dividedinto three parts. Part A (9,302 nam es) included the m ost comp leteand, according to the Polish authorit ies, the most accurateinformation. Part B (2,900 names) included those names thatdemanded further explanat ion. In Part C (1,217 names) werefound the names of Poles who possessed valid exit v isas as wellas passports be fore the Pol ish Embassy le f t the USSR and whofor these reasons were not abandoned by the Soviets and whoshou ld as the f irst priority be evacua ted22 .

The major i ty o f Jewish names were in Part B, which theJew ish C om m ittee regarded as repression of Polish cit izens of theJewish nationality. Nobody had the courage to state that in theintroductory letters for individuals leaving the Soviet Union, thegoal was to smuggle out Jews who were not Polish cit izens 23 butwh o had conta cts with Zionist organizations in Palestine and theUnited States 24 .

Th e f irst attem pt which p roved the unreliabil ity of the l ist wa sthe pack age a ction, or the sending of pac kage s of food and goodsto known and certi f ied addresses of Polish families l iv ing in theSoviet Union with the help of specialized companies 25 . Becausemany addresses were not correct, they were addressed to Off icerwith a request for correction. Th is turned out to be unw orkab le,beca use the S oviets did not always respond to the corrections. Insuch a situation, the former Polish Em bass y in the Soviet U nionarrang ed the so-ca lled 'List of 5,000', those nam es with the m ostcorrect addresses to which food and goods could eventually besent26 . Th e l ist wa s mad e based on information f rom the evacu-

in the Soviet Un ion in 1943 and registered by the Polish E mb assy in K uibyshev;see Notatka w spraw ie w ykonania przez CBE prac przew idzianych w budżecie

nadzw yczajnym Biura Poselstw a RP w Teheranie (Memo on Completing the WorksIncluded into the Extraordinary Budge t of the Polish Lega tion's Bureau in Teheranby CBE), AAN, Poselstw o, 94, p. 9.22 Telegram Poselstw a RP w Teheranie z 14 w rześnia 1943 roku do charged'affaires Australii K. Officer'a w spraw ie list ew akuacyjnych obyw ateli polskich(Telegram of September 14, 1943, Jrom the Polish Legation in Tehera n to charged'affa ires oj Australia, K. OJficer, on Eva cuation Lists oj Polish Citizens ), AA N,Poselstw o, 93, pp. 38-40.2 3 For example, Lithuanian, or from Bessarabia.24 Pismo Kierow nika Ambasa dy RP w ZSRR (w likwida cji) I Sekretarza ZbigniewaJakubskiego z 14 w rześnia 1943, p. 43-46.2 5 For more on the package ac tion, see D. B o ć k o w s k i , op. cit., pp. 350-352.2 6 Num bering 9,302 nam es in August 1943.




ation of the Pol ish arm y from the Soviet Un ion in Au gu st 1942.The addresses sent from London by the Ministry of Labour andSocial Welfare were submitted for clari f ication in the newlycreated files of the Embassy as well as in the f iles of the militaryfam il ies in the o f f ice of the Mil itary Attaché at the Pol ish Legationin Teheran. Because the Central Bureau of Evidence rewrote thef i les of the Embassy, this delayed the process of checking theinformation. The conf irmation of identity and address was afun dam en tal condit ion al lowing for the placemen t of a pers on (orfamily) onto the package action l ist , which was then sent to

expe dit ing f irms , the Ministry of Labour and Social W elfare, andthe Austral ian Legation in the Soviet Union.

At a certa in moment in format ion reached Teheran f rom theAustral ian Legation that packages with aid for Poles l iving inDz ha m bu l were being del ivered to addresse es by the local dep art-ment of the Union of Pol ish Patriots. This raises the justi f iedsuspicion that authorit ies applied a similar procedure in otherareas of Pol ish concentration 27 . Whether the Soviets applied asimilar procedure in other cit ies is not known, but there isin forma t ion in the same report that packages sent from Teh eranto Bukhara went to addressees without the intervention of theloca l Pol ish Com mu nist Party .

The action of sending f inancial subsidies began after somedelay. In accordance with the agreement, the Legation wassupposed to send a one-t ime subsidy in the amount of 400rubles, take n fro m the resourc es in its accou nt after the l iquida -t ion of the Pol ish Em bassy, to those individuals indicated b y thePolish authorit ies. From the very beginning both the method oftrans fer and the limitations on the am oun t of the subs idy raisedsome surprise among the staf f of the Austral ian Legation 28 . Inthe matter of determining how to disperse the money, the Lega-

t ion began from the posit ion that subsidies should be sent toa lready conf irmed addresses in a regular manner, and not justonce, especial ly since they almost never received conf irmation

27 Pismo I Sekretarza Poselstw a RP w Teheranie Zbigniew a Jakubskiego do MSZ

Rzą du RP w Londynie z 3 lipca 1944 (Letter of July 3, 1944, from the First Secretary

of the Polish Legation in Tehera n, Zbigniew Jakubski, to the Ministry of Foreign

Affa irs of the Polish Government in London), AA N, Poselstw o, 93, p. 118.

2 8 Se e fur the r reports (I, I I , I I I, IV, V and VI) sent by the Austra lian Lega tion to thePol ish Legat ion in Teheran, AAN. MPiOS, 43, pp. 12-15, 36-37. 74-75, 81-82 and100-101 .




that the money had actually reached its destination29

. There forethe Australians also established the principle that 400 rublesshould be sent to al l Polish cit izens who made a formal requestfor aid 30 . This was just i f ied because the procedure imposed byPolish auth orit ies ma de practically imp ossible any rel ie f activ ity.As a result, the Polish authorit ies f irst sent the Australians aspecial l ist of individu als en tit led to a subsidy, m ade up of thosenames for whom they had addresses sent to them that were tosome degree correct. Next the Legation was supposed to sendte legram s to these addresses with a request for conf irmation that

such a person is actually there and that he/she is a Polishcitizen 31 . The one-t ime 400-ruble subsidy could be sent to anindividual only after confirmation of these facts was received byte legram. Because very many money transfers never made i t tothe addressees, even i f a given address was correct, the Legationinterv ened w ith the appropriate authorit ies, most often wit h lessthan sat is factory results 32 .

Th e workers o f the Legat ion not iced that the main tenance o fsuch procedures meant that f rom the f i rs t l is t sent by Teheranat the beginning o f 1944 and number ing 200 names, only f ive

could b e con firm ed and receive aid; from the second l ist, only sixcould be conf irmed 3 3 . In the case of the next lists, sent success-ive ly f rom Teheran every month, the s i tuat ion was s imi lar 34.

2 9 Th e situation becam e even more difficult wh en Poles inform ed the AustralianLegation that the one-t ime payment was supposed to be made avai lable to thegreatest n um ber of Polish citizens, though earlier reports made clear that the fewresou rces left behind in the Soviet Union were to go to the neediest deportees. SeePismo MSZ Rzą du RP w Londynie N° U/312/Sow /IV/1/44 z 14 sierpnia 1944 r.

do Ministerstwa Pracy i Opieki Społecznej (Letter of August 14, 1944, No U/312/

Sow /IV/1/44. from the Ministry of Foreign Affa irs of the Polish Government in

London to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfa re), AAN , MPiOS, 43, p. 152.

3 0 M . D a n i l e w i c z Z i e l i ń s k a , op. cit., p. 228.31 Pismo MSZ Rząd u RP w Londynie N° U/312/Sow /IV/2 z 8 lutego 1944 r. doMinisterstw a Pracy i Opieki Społecznej (Letter of February 8. 1944, No U/312/Sow /IV/2, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Polish Government in Londonto the Ministry of Labour and Social W elfare), AAN . MPiOS, 43, p. 47.32 Pismo MSZ Rząd u RP w Londynie N° V.312/Sow .IV/45 z 19 marca 1945 r. wspraw ie pisma Poselstwa Australii z 3 listopada 1944 r. N° 11551 /44/Sow /2(Letter of March 1945, No V.312/Sow .IV/ 45from the Ministry of Foreign Affa irs ofthe Polish Gove rnment in London on the Letter of November 3, 1944 , from theAustralian Legation), AAN, MPiOS, p. 66.

33 Pismo MSZ Rząd u RP w Londynie N° U/312/Sov/IV/2/44 z 27 kw ietnia 1944do MPiOS (Letter of April 27, 19 44, No U/312/ Sow /W/ 2/44, from the Ministry ofForeign Affa irs of the Polish Gove rnment in London to the Ministry of Labour andSocial Welfare), AAN, MPiOS, 43, p. 91.




Throughout the entire period during which subsidies were sent,the mo st ef fective m ethod turned out to be individual con tact w iththe interested parties, along with a regular (that is, continuing)400-ruble subsidy, rather than a one-t ime payment o f 400rubles. This situation changed only in June 1944, when theM inistry of Lab our an d Social W elfare decided to free the Au stra-l ian Legation from the requirement to confirm each address byte legraph. Unfortunate ly , this dec is ion came many months toolate for m an y waiting for aid. Stil l, though, the M inistry took theposition that the f inancial subsidies should only be one-time 3 5 .

Realiz ing tha t the possibility of confirmin g the add resses w asnot great and also that the great need continued, the AustralianLegation decided to send one-time subsidies of a higher sum —from 500 3 6 to 1,000 37 rubles. Th e f inan cial aid wa s dispers ed overpract ical ly the ent ire terr i tory o f the USSR — from Namanganand Komi to Kazakhstan and the Altai region. In exceptionalcases, hospital stays of Polish cit izens were also covered by thefunds held by the Australian authorit ies 38.

Thr oug hou t the per iod discussed here, the Austra l ian Lega-tion disperse d 3 ,601 ,000 rub les for individual subs idies as of M ay

24th

, 1943. This total includes the costs of sending the money.The monthly totals fo l low:

25 M ay — 21 October 1943 - 31,779 rub les 3 9

3 4 It is known for certain that such letters sent from Teheran numbered at leastfive, the first sent in January, the second in February, and so on. See Spisypolskich obyw ateli w ZSRR, którym należ y udz ielić za pomogi 400 rubli, w ys yła neprzez MSZ do Poselstw a Australii (Lists of Polish Citizens in the Soviet Union, W hoAre to Be Granted 400-ruble Subsidy Sent by The Ministry of Foreign A ffairs to theAustralian Legation], AAN, MPiOS, 43, pp. 48-51 (List N° 2), 57-60 (List N° 3),62-65 (List N° 4), 95-98 (List N° 5).

35 PismoMPiOSN" 7002/Sow /2z 17 czerwca 1944 r.do MSZ Rządu RP w Londynie(Letter of June 17, 1944, N° 700 2/Sow /2, from the Ministry of Labour and SocialWelfa re to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Polish Government in London), AAN ,MPiOS. 43, pp. 121-122.36 Statement of Expend iture on Beha lf of the Polish Government June-July 1943,AAN, MPiOS, 43, pp. 24-2 5.37 Cas h Receipts and Statement of Expenditure on Beha lf of the Polish Government1st to 30 th Nov 1943, AAN, MPiOS, 43, pp. 40-42.38 Notes on Expenditure on Behalf of the Polish Government by the AustralianLega tion in Kuibyshev, USSR, May June and July 1943, AAN , MPiOS, 43, p. 26.39 Pismo MPiOS Rzą du RP w Londynie N° 344/44/Sow/2 z 4 stycznia 1944 r. doMinisterstw a Skarbu (Letter of January 4. 1944, nr344/44/Sow /2, from theMinistry of Labour and Socia l W elfa re of the Polish Gov ernment in London to the

Ministry of Finance), AA N, MPiOS, 43, p. 28.



AU STR ALIAN LEGA TION AND CARE FOR POLISH CITIZENS 111

November 1943December 1943January 1944

February 1944March 1944

April 1944

May 1944June 1944

July 1944August 1944

- 26.25740

- 30.53141

- 2 7 , 5 9 4 4 2

- 46,89043

- 58,27844

- 97,18345

- 60.39946

- 73,41147

- 31.29948

- 96,08849.

In tota l , 579,529 rub les 5 0 , not qui te 16% of the resources were

earmarked f or the goa l o f ass i s tance . The number o f ind iv idua ls

w ho cou ld r ece i v e m on th ly subs id i e s va r i ed f rom 60 to 240 . Th is

40 Pismo MPiOS Rz ądu RP w Londy nie N" 4299/44 /Sow /2 z 17 kw ietnia 1944 r.

do Ministerstw a Skarbu (Letter of April 17, 1944, nr4299/ 44/Sow /2, from the

Ministry of Labour and Social We lfare of the Polish Government in London to theMinistry of Finance], AA N, MPiOS, 43, p. 86.

42 Pismo MPiOS Rz ądu RP w Londynie N° 4299/44 /Sow /2 z 23 kw ietnia 1944 r.do Ministerstw a Skarbu (Letter of April 23, 1944, nr4299/ 44/Sow /2, from theMinistry of Labour and Social We lfare of the Polish Government in London to theMinistry of Finance), AA N, MPiOS, 43, p. 88.43 Pismo MPiOS Rzą du RP w Londynie 1V° 5637/44/Sow /2 z 25 maja 1944 r. doMinisterstw a Skarbu (Letter of May 25, 1944, nr5637/4 4/Sow /2, fromthe Ministryof Labour and Social We lfare of the Polish Gove rnment in London to the Ministry ofFinance), AAN, MPiOS, 43, p. 106.44 Pismo MPiOS Rząd u RP w Londynie N° 6400/44/Sow /2 z 13 czerw ca 1944 r.do Ministerstw a Skarbu (Letter of June 13 , 1944, nr6400/ 44/Sow /2, from theMinistry of Labour and Social We lfare of the Polish Government in London to theMinistry of Finance), A AN, MPiOS, 43, p. 120.45 Statement of Cas h and Expenditure on behalf of the Polish Gove rnmentfor monthof April 1944. AA N, MPiOS, 43, pp. 137-139.46 Statement of Cas h and Expenditure on behalf of the Polish Gove rnmentfor month

of May 1944, AAN, MPiOS. 43, pp. 165-168.47 Statement of Cash a nd Expenditure on behalf of the Polish Government for monthof June 1944 . AA N, MPiOS, 43, pp. 175-176.48 Statement of Cas h and Expenditure on behalf of the Polish Gov ernment for monthof July 1944, AA N, MPiOS, 43, pp. 181-182.49 Statement of Cas h and Expenditures on beha lf of the Polish Government formonth of August 1944, AA N, MPiOS, 43, pp. 190-193.5 0 Indeed in September and October 1944 the Australian Legation carried outfurth er expenditures, to the sum of 131,156 rubles; however, it is not know n w ha tpart of this sum was marked for direct assistance. See Pismo MSZ Rządu RP wLondynie N° U.312/Sow .TV/45 z 19 marca 1 945 roku do MPiOS (Letter of March19, 1945, N° U.312/Sow .TV/45, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PolishGovernment in London to the Ministry of Labour a nd Social Welfa re), AA N, MPiOS,

43, p. 67.

41 Ibidem.



112 •DANIEL BOĆKOW SKI

w as on ly a sm all fraction of the actual need. Ho w m an y people ingeneral rece ived f inancial support f rom the Legat ion is un know n.Th is nu m be r is dif f icult to establish on the basis of the paid sum s;the amounts and frequency and nature o f payments (whether aregular or one-t im e subsidy) do not prov ide enough information.To attempt a generalization, it may be possible to suggest thatsuch persons numbered around a thousand. A major i ty o f thisaid went to Polish Jews, who had f led in the summer of 1940 asso-cal led bieżeńcy, or refuge es from the terr itoiy occu pied by th eGerman army. Even more interesting, in the l ists sent from

Teheran to the Australian Legation, the situation was reversed.The re one f ind s a major i ty o f Po l ish n am es.

Along with the action of providing subsidies, the Legationattem pted, to the extent of its own l imited ca pabil it ies, to super-v ise the dispersal o f mater ia l goods f rom the aband oned contentsof the Polish Embassy. It turned out very quickly, however, thatthe Soviets prevented contro l over these goods and w arehou ses.Indeed , on Ju ly 2, 1943, Keith Off icer te legraph ed to Teh era n th atthe Soviets had init iated the opening of e leven warehouses be-longing to the Embassy and carried out the distr ibution of goods

among Poles in regions aid had not yet reached. However, eachof the wa reh ou ses w as under the supervision of a special director,chosen by local authorit ies, and the so-called Polish committeerecently established and fully controlled by the Union of PolishPatriots. Goods belonging to the Polish government were givenout exclusively on the strength of the decision of the committeeand representatives of the local authorit ies. The actual state ofthe warehouses remained unknown; unknown also was the iractual contents. As the deputy commissioner of the People 'sCom missa r iat o f Fore ign Af fa irs A leksan der Korn i jczuk assu redOff icer, the Soviets intended to return to the Polish governmentthe value of the a id in kind, respective to its cash va lue. All go odsin transit at the moment o f l iquidat ion o f the Embassy weresuppos ed to go to the w arehouses.

The Soviet authorit ies organized a special department at thePeople 's Com missa r iat o f Trade, which was sup posed to have thetask of occupying itself with locating the material goods in eachwa reho use and regular ly informing the Austral ian Lega t ion aboutthe number of Polish cit izens receiving help from each operatingwarehouse. This department was the Of f ice o f Prov is ions for



AUSTR ALIAN LEGATION AND CARE FOR POLISH CITIZENS 113

Evacuated Poles from the Western Territories of Ukraine andBelarus (Uprawlenije po snabzeniju Polakow ew akuirow annych

iz za pad nych obtastiej Ukrainy i Bietarusi henceforth Uprosob-

trog)51 . The department superv ised a number o f warehouses in,among other places, Arkhangelsk, Kirov, Krasnoyarsk, Bernaul,Semipalatynsk, Samarkand, Pietropavlovsk, Pavlodar, Czkalov,Ashkhaba d, and Syktyvkar52. Many of them ha d operate d earl ierfor several months as warehouses of the Polish Embassy inKuib yshe v. A. Korn ijczuk wa s at the head of the depa rtm ent. Hiscoworkers were Andrze j Witos and Boles law Drobner . However ,after the f irst attem pts to control the help received by th e S ovietauthor i t ies , Drobner requested that Wanda Wasi lewska be re-moved from this funct ion 53 . In order to mak e the disp ersa l of giftsm ore ef f ic ient, an order wa s given regarding the equal treatm entof Poles and oth er Soviet cit izens as regards th e rationin g of food.

That the Soviet authorit ies and Polish Communist Partydisposed of Polish goods themselves deeply disturbed the Poles,and they informed the American and Brit ish authorit ies as wellas the Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs about this develop-ment54 . The Pol ish governmentin-ex i le in London did not haveanything against further help, but they doubted that this helpwould actually reach Polish cit izens. The fears of the Polishauthorit ies also brought forth the statement of the People 'sCommissariat of Foreign Affairs about the delayed regulation off inancial questions. This was essential, because i f the Sovietauthorit ies wished to settle the accounts of the goods that were

5 1 A n d r z e j K o r z o n , Losy da rów z zachodu dla Polaków w ZSRR po zerwa niupolsko-radz ieckich stosunków dy plomatyczny ch w kw ietniu 1943 r. (Fate ojWe stern Gifts or Polish Citize ns in the Soviet Union after the Break of Polish-SovietDiplomatic Relations in April 1943 ], "Studia z Dzie jów Rosj i i Europy Środ kow o-Wschodniej" 1998. v. XXXIII, p. 117.52 Ibidem, p. 118.53 Ibidem.54 Informacja MSZ Rządu RP w Londynie N" 738 /Sow /43 z 2 lipca 1943 r. doMinisterstw a Skarbu, Ministerstw a Pracy i Opieki Społeczne j oraz Ministerstw aInformacji i Dokumentacji w spraw ie noty chargé d'affa ires A ustralii K. Officera orozdziale pomocy z maga zynów b. Ambasa dy RP w ZSRR (Information of theMinistry of Foreign Affa irs of the Polish Government in London. N° 738/Sow /43,July 2, 1943, to the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour and Social We lfare andto the Ministry of Information and Documentation on the Note of the Aus tralianchargé d 'affa ires, K. Officer, about relief distribution from the w arehouses of theformer Polish Emba ssy in the Soviet Union), Hoover Institution on War Revolutionand Peace, Acts of the Ministry of Information and Documentation of the PolishGovernment in-London, box 95, folder 5.—




taken at f ictional state prices, the sum received would be laugh-ably low 5 5 .The f irst and probably the greatest success of the workers of

the Legat ion turn ed out to be the evacuation f rom Ashk ha bad o fthe chi ldren and workers in Pol ish orphanages who had beenwait ing there for many months. This was a group chosen forevacuation when the Pol ish embassy was st i l l in Kuibyshev.Included were the children and staf f of the so-called collectiveorphanage, in which were gathered orphans and hal f -orphansfrom the southern Soviet Union. The y were supposed to leave the

USSR with a cont ingent o f 400 Pol ish chi ldren, for whom theSoviets had granted permission to leave the country after nego-t iat ions with the Embassy. From the moment o f the break inmutual diplomatic relations, the orphanage, already prepared forevacuation, was delayed at the border by the Soviet authorit ies' for explanation'. The Australian Legation intervened at the hig-hest levels of the Soviet authorit ies to evacuate these childrenfrom the Soviet Union 56 . Finally on July 22, 1943, the orph ana geleft the terr itory of the Soviet Union. 310 Polish children as wellas eight careta kers left at that t ime. In spite of the ef fo rts of theAustral ian s, seventeen staf f m emb ers and chi ldren rem ainedbehind in Ashk haba d in pr ison57 .

The second achievement was the evacuation o f thir teenpeople at the end of 1943, a group of local rel ie f workers of thePolish Embassy as well as their families 58. An additional groupof twe nty ind ividuals, in spite of having received Soviet assu ran-ces as to the possibil ity of immediately leaving the country andthe repeated ef forts of the Australians, remained in the USSR.

5 5 Especially since the majority of goods found in the warehouses were inacces-sible and their market value was several times higher.5 6 Among others, the People 's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs commissar Ale-ksander Korni jczuk.57 Pismo Kierow nika Ambasad y RP w ZSRR w likwidacji Zygmunta Zaw adow skie-go do Ministra Spraw Zagranicznych Rząd u RP w Londynie Tad eusza Romera z 13w rześnia 1943 roku (Letter of September 13, 1943, from Hea d of the PolishEmbass y in the Soviet Union [in liquidation], Zygmunt Zaw ad ow ski to the Ministerof Foreign Affa irs of the Polish Gove rnment in London, Ta deusz Romer), AAN ,Poselstw o, 93, pp. 31-32. See also Report N° VI on Protection of Polish Interests,February 1944, MPiOS, 43, p. 100.58 Pismo MSZ Rządu RP w Londynie N" U/312/Sow/IV/1 /44 z 5 stycznia 1944do Ministra Pracy i Opieki Społecznej (Letter of January 5, 1944, nr U/ 312/Sow /IV/1 / 44, from the Ministry of Foreign A ffa irs of the Polish Gove rnment in Lond onto the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfa re) AAN.MPiOS, 43, p. 7.



AUSTRAL IAN LEGATION AND CARE FOR POLISH CITIZENS 115

In accordance w ith the agreement, the Austra l ians were a lsosupposed to work for the evacuat ion f rom the Soviet Union ofindiv iduals who were supposed to have been assured v isas forAu stral ia, G reat Britain, India, Palestine, the United States, andAfr ica ; form er delegates of the Embassy; m em bers of the fami l iesof wo rke rs at the Em bas sy wh o had lef t the Soviet Union in Apri l1943; fam il ies of soldiers serving in the An de rs arm y; and child-ren f rom Pol ish asy lums and orphanages 59 . In the f irst pha se ofits existenc e, the Legation noted that they received 1,000 reques tsfor assistance 6 0 . From the very beginning, the Austral ian ef fortsto assist these individuals met with the stubborn resistance ofthe authorit ies, who stated that such persons were not Pol ishcit izens (acc ording to the note of Jan ua ry 1943) or that they ha dlost the right to leave (becau se of the lack of a val id pass port, visa,lack of local permission, or other factors)6 1 . The notes andquest ions the Austra l ians sent in th is matter were most of tenentirely ignored. The direct intervention of the Au stral ia ns endedin a similar way. The only concession was the formal acquisit ionin October 1943 of the permission of the Russians for theem bas sy to interven e in the matter of the exit of Poles l iving wes tof the Curzon Line before 1939.

The intervention of the Austral ian Legation in Pol ish con-cerns, wh ich began a lready in May 194362, lasted unti l the S ovietdecision in August 1944 taking away the Legation's right to acton behalf of Poles 6 3 . At this t ime, several meetings with highSoviet of f icials, including Stal in and Molotov, took place 6 4 . Most

5 9 M . D a n i l e w i c z Z i e l i ń s k a , op. cif., p. 2 29 .60 Ibidem.6 1 An additional d iff iculty wa s the lack of the possibil ity of prolonging thesedocuments by the Australian Legation without the official authorization of the

Soviet au thorit ies that they regarded a given person as a Polish cit izen. See PismoMSZ Rząd u RP w Londynie N° U/312/Sow /IV/1/44 z 4 paźd ziernika 1944 rokudo MPiOS (Letter of October 4. 1944 . nr U/312/ Sow /IV/1 / 44, from the Ministry ofForeign Af fairs of the Polish Government in London to the Ministry of Labour andSocial Welfare), AAN, MPiOS, call N° 43, p. 179.62 Report N° 1 on Protection of Polish Interests from 24 th May to 31st July 1943,AAN, MPiOS, 43, p. 11. See also Report N° II, p. 13.6 3 The withdrawal of the right to represent the interests of Polish cit izens in theSoviet Union was motivated by the fact of the establishment of the PKWN and itssub seq uen t obligation to care for Poles in the Soviet Union. See Pismo MSZ RząduRP w Londynie N° U/312/Sow /IV/1 /44 z 7 listopada 1944 roku do MPiOS (Letterof November 7. 1944 , nr U/312/ Sow /IV/1/4 4,from the Ministry of Foreign A ffairsof the Polish Government in London to the Ministry of Labour a nd Social We lfare),AAN, MPiOS, 43, p. 184.




conversations were with the vice commissar of the People 'sCom missa r iat o f Foreign Af fa irs A leksander Korn i jczuk 6 5 as wellas Valer ian Zor in who wa s responsible for the Fourth Dep artm entof European Af fa irs 6 6 . Finally, on March 20, 1944, the People'sCom m issar iat o f Fore ign Af fa irs re fused the Aus tral ian Legat ionthe r ight to accept furth er and act on the evacuation l ists of Polishcitizens deporte d to the Soviet Union, in accordan ce with internalregula tions, wh ich p laced directly on the citizen the obliga tion toobtain the r ight to go abroad and determined that the place ofsubmitting such petit ions should be the of f ices of the mil it ia in

the place of residence6 7

. From this moment, al l exits were sus-pended. As the Legation found out two months later, the Sovietauthorit ies did not grant even one Polish cit izen permission toleave the Soviet Union, even on the basis of their own regula-t ions 68 . The s i tuat ion changed only in June 1944, when fourpeople received permission to exit69. All le ft the Soviet U nion andwen t to Palest ine through Iran 70 .

The People 's Commissar iat o f Fore ign Af fa irs note f rom Au-gus t 23, 1944, taking aw ay the Austra lian Legation's r igh t to carefor Polish cit izens in the Soviet Union, did not in fact mean the

end of this care. Correspondence from individuals seeking helpcon tinue d to arrive at the Legation long after the care w as to hav eended. Unfortunately, the Australians could not take any of f ic ialactions, though in exceptional situations they took some indis-pensab le steps71 . Sti l l rem aining wa s only the arran ging of forma l

6 4 M . D a n i l e w i c z Z i e l i ń s k a , op. cit., p. 229.65 Report N° I, p. 11 and Report N° II. pp. 13-14.66 Report N° VI, p. 100.67 Pismo MSZ Rządu RP w Londynie N° U/312/Sow /IV/1/44 z 27 maja 1944 doMinisterstwa Pracy i Opieki Społecznej (Letter of May 27 , 1944, nr U/312/Sow /

IV/1/4 4, from the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs of the Polish Gove rnment in Londonto the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfa re), AAN, MPiOS, 43, p. 114.6 8 Th e Legation attempted to send a special letter to the People 's Com missa riat ofForeign A ffair s with the request to examine each petition. See Pismo MSZ RząduRP w Londynie N° U/312/Sow/IV/1/44 z 26 lipca 1944 r. do Ministerstw a Pracyi Opieki Społecznej (Letter of July 26. 19 44, nr U/312/Sow /TV/1 /44, from theMinistry of Foreign A ffa irs of the Polish Gov ernment in London to the Ministry ofLabour and Social Welfare), AAN, MPiOS, 43, p. 134.6 9 Two tried to exit via the Legation earlier; the other two did not take advantageof the Legation's assistance.70 Pismo MSZ Rząd u RP w Londynie N° U/312/Sow/IV/1 /44 z 14 sierpnia 1944(Letter of August 14, 1944, nr U /312/Sow /W/1 / 44,from the Ministry of ForeignAffa irs of the Polish Government in London), p. 173.7 1 M . D a n i l e w i c z Z i e l i ń s k a , op. cit., p. 229.



AUSTR ALIAN LEGATION AND CARE FOR POLISH CITIZENS 117

matters connected with the l iquidation of the account as well asthe transfer of m one y and correspond ence gath ered ti l l this t ime.In spite of the suggestion of the Ministry of Labour and SocialWelfare that the Australian Legation transfer the 3,016,197rubles7 2 in poun ds to Polish authorit ies in a third cou ntry 73 , themo ney wa s sent to the Pol ish Embassy in M oscow 74 .

The aid of the Australian Legation, though minimal, was formany Pol ish deportees unusual ly important. This a id may haveeven saved someone's l i fe . Though the ef forts of the Australianswere from the beginning not destined for success, this work

cannot rem ain un apprec iated today. The acts o f the Au stral iansdeserve great respect. The dif f iculties they encountered afterarrival in the Soviet Union, the und erstand ing they disp layed forthe situation of the Poles and the granting to them of crucial aid,often against the absurd recommendations of the Poles in Lon-don, o bligates us to preserve these people in our Polish nation alm em ory — all the more becau se the Polish autho rit ies in em igra-tion never thanked them for their work. The saddest part of thissto iy is the fact that •— as Peter Heydon recalls — wh en Stan isławM ikołajczyk and Tadeus z Rom er arrived in Mo scow at the end o fJuly 1944, the Australian Legation found out about their visitonly f rom the BBC broadcast75 .

(TYanslated by Sean Martin]

7 2 Balance as of September 1, 1944. See Pismo MSZ Rzą du RP w Londynie N°U.312 / Sow .TV/ 45 z 19 marca 1945 (Letter of March 19, 1945, nr U/312/Sow /IV/1/45, from the Ministry of Foreign Affa irs of the Polish Government in London],p. 67.73 Pismo MPiOS N° 4186/45/Sow /2 z 31 marca 1945 r. do MSZ Rząd u RP wLondy nie (Letter of March 31 . 1945 , nr 4186 /45/Sow /2, from the Ministry ofLabour and Social W elfare to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Polish Governmentin London), AA N, MPiOS, 43, p. 70.7 4 T h i s wa s in th e s um o f 2 ,9 16 ,1 97 r ub le s. S e e M . D a n i l e w i c z Z i e l i ń s k a ,op. cit., p. 229.75 Ibidem, p. 230.



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