I Saw Poland Betrayed; an American Ambassador Reports to the American People
Arthur Bliss Lane, 1948
Book Report: I Saw Poland Betrayed
The New American
July 18, 1988
Arthur Bliss Lane was appointed ambassador to Poland on July 17, 1944. Lane, who died in 1956, was a solid establishment figure. He was born in 1894 into a well-to-do New York family. His people were descendants of the Mayflower's William Bradford. After graduating from Yale in 1916, Lane spent the next 30 years with the foreign service. His assignments included eastern Europe and Central America. He was even a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Nevertheless, after serving as American ambassador to Poland from 1944 to 1947, and witnessing first hand the betrayal of this great nation, Lane resigned from the foreign service and placed the facts "publicly on the record."
From 1939 until the Nazis invaded on June 22, 1941, "hundreds of thousands" of Poles in Soviet-occupied territory were deported to Siberia. Lane explains that the Communists used this tactic throughout Eastern Europe to "eradicate all truly nationalistic elements in areas under Soviet control." In the September 17, 1940 issue of the Red Army's official publication Red Star, the Soviets boasted that about 10,000 Polish officers had been captured by the Red Army during the heroic Soviet-Nazi invasion. Lane points out that Red Star "did not state what had become of them."
On April 12, 1943, the truth came out when the Nazis announced that they had uncovered a mass grave containing the remains of over 10,000 Polish officers in the Katyn Forest near Smolensk (deep inside the USSR). These officers -- the best and the brightest of Poland's army -- had been systematically executed. Despite overwhelming evidence that the Communists had perpetrated this atrocity, the Soviets tried to blame the Nazis. The Communists claimed that the unfortunate Polish officers had fallen into the hands of "Fascist executioners."
During July 1944, the Nazis were in retreat under heavy pressure from the Red Army. The Soviets were within 10 miles of Warsaw and closing. On July 29th and 30th, a Polish language broadcast from Moscow proclaimed, "Poles, the time of liberation is at hand! Poles, to arms." Having received assurances from the Red Army that their Soviet "allies" were on the way, General Bor, commander of the Polish Home Army, ordered a full attack on the Nazis on August 1, 1944. Despite inferior weapons, the Poles managed to drive the Nazis out of most of the public buildings.
At this point, reports Lane, the Soviets committed "their most decisive and the most savage blow against Polish nationalism." Despite being camped just outside the city gates, the Soviets cold-bloodedly refused to lend any assistance to the embattled Poles. The Red Army waited until the Nazis had brutally crushed the courageous Poles. Short of supplies, the Poles were forced to surrender to the Germans on October 3, 1944.
In one blow, the 250,000-man Polish Home Army had been broken, and the Polish Government in exile in London had been discredited. In addition, the Communists had successfully deprived the nation of a generation of pro-western heroes. Conveniently, the only surviving Polish leaders were the pro-Soviet members of the "Lublin gang." What Katyn failed to accomplish, inaction by the Red Army at Warsaw in 1944 achieved.
In December 1943, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt met in Tehran for the first "Big Three" conference. Lane writes that, although the proceedings were kept secret, it was apparent as events in Poland unfolded that "Roosevelt had agreed at Tehran to the sacrifice of a great area east of the Curzon Line to the Soviet Union." The Curzon Line just happened to be the same line fixed by an agreement reached between the Soviets' Molotov and the Nazis' Ribbentrop on September 28, 1939 when the two proclaimed that "Poland no longer existed." In other words, as early as 1943, Roosevelt had agreed to give Stalin the section of Poland that the Red Army had seized in 1939 as part of their cooperative invasion with Hitler!
Tehran was just the beginning, however. Yalta provided the "deathblow to Poland's hopes for independence." At Yalta, reports Lane, Roosevelt was in no position to negotiate with Stalin. FDR was very ill. In fact, he died less than three months later. Whether by health or by stealth, Stalin won unbelievable sovereignty and territorial concessions from Roosevelt on Eastern Europe. The Communists proceeded to violate even these agreements. All despite public assurances from both FDR and Churchill of support for a "strong, free and independent Poland."
Meeting with President Truman in Potsdam, the Soviets and their puppet, the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity, agreed to hold "free and unfettered elections" in Poland "as soon as possible." Lane presents proof that the Soviets did no such thing.
On January 17, 1945, Stalin announced that Poland had been "liberated" by the Red Army. The promised election did not occur until January 19, 1947. The Communists shrewdly delayed the elections until they knew they could win. Meanwhile, the nation was subjected to the full brunt of Communist terror and oppression. Lane writes that the electorate was systematically "intimidated and harassed through arrests, physical tortures, and political murders."
The elections were not "free and unfettered" as mandated in the Yalta and Potsdam agreements. Instead, they were "characterized by coercion, intimidation, and violence." Lane writes that there was also widespread fraud during the election. As a result, when the elections were finally held, the Communists received an overwhelming majority.
Lane's book is shocking when compared to Ambassador David Funderburk's recent book on Communist Romania. Lane was there when Poland was delivered into the hands of the Communists in 1945. Funderburk was there only a few years ago. Communist tactics of terror and oppression have not changed, and neither has the American government's response to these Communist tactics!
Related Article:
2012 - New Revelations on the Katyn Forest Massacre: Roosevelt Knew
After 70 years of denial, new declassified documents show that the Roosevelt Administration knew — and covered up the fact — that Stalin butchered 22,000 Polish military officers. Wiki:
Katyn Massacre
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