Letter from Irving Brant to President Harry S. Truman, with Related Material
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OCR Page 1 of 12Polonia Hotel, Warsaw, Poland.
October 15, 1945.
Dear Mr. President:
In accordance with yo ur request, I send you some
observations on Poland. Some of them are tentative, as I have not
yet traveled around the country, and one both sees and hears inflicting
things. But here goes, seriatim:
1. Boland has an immense, critical need for transport facili-
ties, also food and clothing. Everything that is sent through UNRAA,
and that gets here fast from surplus army supplies, will not only save
lives this winter but will stabilize the country politically and cement
friendly international relations. Food and coal can't be moved without
trucks and gasoline, and thousands of people are going to go through the
winter anyway without heat in windowless houses--that is, with open panes.
2. The American embassy is doing good work here. The ambassador
has thorough goodwill toward the Poles and appears to be on good terms
with the Polish government and with Russian officials. There is nothing
resembling the situatBon in southeastern Europe.
3. The London Polish government-in-exile has passed completely
out of the thoughts of Poles in Poland. They ignore it so completely
(talking only of the Underground when referring to the period before
the present government came in) that I doubt if the masses of the peo pl e
ever thought of it as a government.
4. The present government appears devoted to its task and to
Poland. It is terribly handicapped by the Nazi slaughtdr of intelligent
material
them,
Poles, resulting in a lack of experienced administrators The Polish
counterpart of the Pullman smoking room crowd talksabout it the way
the latter group did about Rbesevelt. Workers and peasants support its
program strongly. Non-party people of the middle group say that the
government is doing its best but are skeptical about results--by which
they mean more goods for their money.
5. The Russian position is hard to appraise. My present impression
is that the Russians intend to relinquish their controls, and are making
transfers of authority, but their excessive regard for military secu-
rity causes them to maintain excessive garrisons. More serious than
this, discipline has braken down in the Red Army and depredations and
rapine are wommon. This is a result of the war itself--not of national
animosities. A Polish physician to ld me that the Russian soldiers behn ved
in an entirely different manner in 1941. Now they are assaulting Russian
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