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Juuo 1, 1944 POLISH FORTNIGHTLY REYIEW 5

Juuo 1, 1944 POLISH FORTNIGHTLY REYIEW 5

already madę at sea and in the air, and within the last few days in the victory at Cassino, where we are proud to think that when the Allied troops entered that ruincd monastery flags both of Poland and of Britain were hoiated side by aide. It is also cxcellent news that the underground movement in Poland has bccn instructed to co-operate in every way with the advancing Soviet troops and that that is now being done.

Perhapa I may be permitted to express the hope, with regard to conditions in Poland aftel- the war as well as in other countries, that some relief may be given to , the Jewish people who liave been suffering in Poland and elsewhere tonder the Germans. under a unique crime, morę terrible than any known in the modern history of the world, worse even than the massacres of the Tartar invasions in the Dark Ages, for now these cruelties are inflicted in cold blood and piecemeal and by a nation which till lately occupied a foremost place in Western ciyilization. . . .

In Poland the problem of frontiers is, of course, the one of chief difllculty, and it is so in many places, because we find freąuently in Europę a conflict between two principles, one the principle that a frontier should be placed along lines detcrmined by race, language and tradition—the principle of national racial boundary, based upon self-determination; and the other the principle that nation3 are entitłed to havc good strategie frontiers against possible enemies. These two principles sometimes conflict. It is impossible in the present State of the world to ignore altogether the second, the strategie common factor. That could only be done if there were an absolute assurance that there would be no futurę wars und that there would be a generał disarmament, but no one can say that such an assurance is possible.

. .. Then there is another complication. We are accus-tomed in the new military language to read of “ hedgehogs," a tactical device by which a force remains behind and permits itsolf to be surroundcd by the enemy, holds out as long as it.can, curled like a bristly hedgehog, in the hope that later it may be reseued by some favourable tum in the tide of battle. But this idea of the military hedgehog has been anticipated by the Germans in esta-blishing what one might describe as racial hedgehogs— sending considerable popułations of Germans to other countries to live in the midst of another population and to remain there isolated and so far as possible self-dependent, but ready in casc of ncccssity to join up with the main body if some military crisis were to arise. That was dellberately the policy of Germany with regard to the Ukrainę where there are very large colonies of that sort. It was the policy of Bismarck in Western Poland. East Prussia in earlier days was founded to some extent on that principle, and the Baltic Knights w'ere sent to the territories around the Baltic Sea; and even across the Atlantic in Brazil unąucstionably there was a policy of that kind to establish a large homo-geneous population to maintain German influence in South America. And sińce the advent of the Nazi regime in Germany, as we know, a special Department of that Government has been established in Berlin with the par-ticular purpose of getting into close communication with these German racial hedgehogs in different parta of Europę and of the world and of maintaining their Teutonic spirit and of co-operating with the German motherland during the war.

That is a factor which has got to be taken into account when we are dealing with these questions of boundaries

and of the right of tlie population concerned to determine what the futurę of a particular territory may be. Hitler withdrew a large number of German Balts from certain Baltic territories at the beginning of this war, or before the war, and provided them with homes in conąuered territory in Poland, and the principle that he has himself adopted may have to be pursucd in other cases in that part of Europc. I happen to have had occasion to visit Greece not long after the transfer of population of Greeks from Asia Minor into Continental Greece and of Turks from Greece into Asia Minor, and it was re-markable to see how effective that transfer had been and how auccessful it was prnctically in all particulars. It is possible that such transfers of population may have to be applied in certain territories in order to solve these extremely stubborn and diflicult problerns that have troubled Europę for so long.

In this connection there ia one phrase used by the Prime Minister in a previous speech which has gi\^ren a number of people a good dcal of concern. He was re-ferring to the Teheran Confcrence, which had been held a short time earlier, and he used these words:

" Marshal Stalin and T also spoke and agreed upon the need for Poland to obtain compensation at the expense of Germany both in the North and the West."

That phrase “ to obtain compensation," is one that does not seem to be quite in accordance with the spirit of the Atlantic Charter and similar declarations. It rather recalls the power politics of the early part of the nineteenth cen tury and the eighteenth century, when the balanee of power was regarded as the dominant principle in international politics. . . .

When the Prime Minister said that Poland is to be compensated for the lośs of territory to Russia in the East by gaius of territory at the expense of Germany in the North and West, he seems to be departing, as I say, from various articles of the Atlantic Charter. If, in the case of East Prussia or the Polish Corridor, a case can be madę out on merita for transfer of territory, then by all means let it be done, but if no case can be madę out on merita, it is diflicult to justify giving compensation against the principle of self-determination and re-gardless of any ąuestlon of strategical frontiers merely because certain territories hitherto possessed by Poland may have to be transferred to Russia, particularly sińce it is the case that these territories are inhabited very largely by Ukrainians and White Russians and a case can be madę out strictly on merita for the transfer of that territory to the Sovict Union. That is a matter on which the Leader of the House, when lie comeu to reply, may be able to give us some word of reassurance.

Lord Noel-Buxton

The claim -of Poland is of course overwhelming. There has always been keen sympathy with Poland because of her hard fate sińce 1772, when the f.rst parlition occurred. Sympathy has been vastly incrcased by the appalling sufferings of recent times. Quite apart from the ąuestion of compensating her for her territorial losses there is the utmost desire to com-pensate her for the atrocious methods used against her by Germany. The enormities perpetuated naturally aroused a universal wish to avenge her wrongs. But our business is to take long views of Poland’s interest and to remomber that such views can be obscured by the emotions of war. Compensation by transfer of landa