3685106482

l.o^f\ żbogę

Declaration

HE POLISH COMMUNITY IN GREAT BRITAIN, organized in the undersigncd Socictics, considcrs it its duty to bring to the public knowledge the following facts illustrating the attitude

of Poland tówards the Sovict Union and of the Soviet Union towards Poland.

1.    After the World War the supremę authorities of the Soviet Union dcclared nuli and void the treaties partit ioning the Polish Commonwealth concludcd in the i8lh cen tury by Russia with Austria and Prussia. A decrcc to this cffect published on August 29th, 1918, proclaimcd the rights of the Polish nation 10 independence and unity. The Polish Republic, restored in 1918, concluded with the Soviel Union the Peace Treaty ofRiga on March t8th, 1921. This negotiated pcacc finally established the Polish-Russian frontiers. Poland thereby renounced in favour of the Sovict Union 102,000 squarc milc.s of its castcrn territory which had bccn anncxcd by Russia in the i8th century and represented no less than 36 per cent. of the territory of Poland as it had ejcisted up to 1771.

2.    The Sovict Union concludcd a Pact of Non-Aggression with Poland on July 25th, 1932, and agaitt irnplicitly acknowledged Poland’s tcrntorial integrity in signing, on May f,th, 1934, a ncw Protocol in virtuc of which the period of validity of the Non-Aggression Pact was prolonged until Decembcr 3ist, 1945. The validity of all treaties concluded bctwccn the two countries was confirmed once again by the Polish-Sovict Declaration of November a6th, 1938. Poland, on her part, madę and makes 110 claimS to the territories which she renouneed by the Treaty of Riga.

3.    We State that the Polish Govcrmncnt consistcntly rejected all the rcpcatcd proposals of the German Reich, madę sińce 1935, for common action against the Soviet Union. In accordancc with her traditions, Poland rernained faithful to her international undertakings.

4.    Poland fcll a victim to the unprovoked ąggression of the Sovict Union on September I7th, 1939, ^{nl a} moment when she was invo!ved in a desperate strugglc against Germany. The Soviet Union, on September 20th, 1939, concluded with the German Reich a treaty pariitioning the Polish State and destroying its indcpcndcncc, in flagrant contradiction of international law and of llic* treaties existing hetween it and Poland. In violation of international law the Sovict Union at that tiine annexed morę than half (51.6 per cent.) of the territory of the Polish Republic, at the. same time forcing Soviet citizens hip on morc than 13 million Polish citizens who werc then present on the anncxcd territory.

5.    Bctwccn 1939 and 1941 the Sovict Union forcibly deported from the territories it had occupied about one million Polish citizens of all creeds. professions and classes, many women, childrcn and old pcoplc arnong them. It cast them into the wilds of Northern Russia and the steppes of Asia. Destitution, liunger and discase wrought havoc among thern and produccd a vcry high ratę of mortality. Many deportees were thrown into prison for legał activities carried on under Polish sovcrcignty, in l^łolish territory and under Polish legislation. Thcy were condemned to dcath or to long-tcrm foreed labour. This was the fale of the most active and dcscrving citizens of Poland.