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Register of the Poland. Ambasada (Soviet Union) Records, 1941-1944
45014
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Title: Poland. Ambasada (Soviet Union),
Date (inclusive): 1941-1944
Collection Number: 45014
Creator:
Poland. Ambasada (Soviet Union) Records
Collection Size:
58 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize folder
(24.6 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the online catalog.
Abstract: Reports, correspondence, accounts, lists, testimonies, questionnaires,
certificates, petitions, card files, maps, circulars, graphs, protocols,
and clippings, relating to World War II, the Soviet occupation of Poland,
the Polish-Soviet military and diplomatic agreements of 1941, the re-
establishment of the Polish embassy in Moscow, Polish prisoners of war in
the Soviet Union, deportations of Polish citizens to the Soviet Union,
labor camps and settlements, relief work by the Polish social welfare
department delegations among the deportees, the Polish armed forces formed
in the Soviet Union, evacuation of Polish citizens to the Middle East, the
Katyn massacre of Polish officers, and the breakdown of Polish-Soviet
relations in 1943. Includes material on the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union and the Soviet government, 1928-1929. A digital copy of this entire collection is available at
http://szukajwarchiwach.pl/800/35/0/-/ .
Language:
Polish.
Collection is open for research.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives
[Identification of item], Poland. Ambasada (Soviet Union) Records, [Box no.], Hoover
Institution Archives.
Also available on microfilm (79 reels).
Digital copy in Poland's National Digital Archive at
http://szukajwarchiwach.pl/800/35/0/-/ . It was digitized from microfilm by the Polish State Archives.
Katyn Forest Massacre, 1940
Poles--Soviet Union
Prisoners of war
Refugees
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945--Civilian relief
World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor
World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Poland
World War, 1939-1945--Diplomatic history
World War, 1939-1945--Poland
World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons
World War, 1939-1945--Refugees
World War, 1939-1945--Soviet Union
Poland
Poland--Foreign relations--Soviet Union
Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945
Soviet Union
Russia (Federation)
Soviet Union--Foreign relations--Poland
Soviet Union--Politics and government--1917-1936
Polish-Soviet diplomatic relations were severed with the Soviet occupation of Eastern
Poland on September 17, 1939. After the German invasion of the USSR in June 1941,
however, the Soviet government re-established diplomatic relations with the Polish
government, then in exile in London. An agreement was signed on July 30, 1941, followed
by a military accord on August 14. The Poles were allowed to re-establish an Embassy in
Moscow, to form an army on Soviet territory for the common struggle against Germany, and
to set up a network of Polish citizens deported to the USSR in 1939-1941.
Friction soon developed in several areas, leading to an eventual break in diplomatic
relations. Of particular concern to the Polish government were the Polish deportees, many
of whom were forced to accept Soviet rather than Polish citizenship. The activities of
the Polish social welfare workers awoke the suspicions of the Soviet authorities, who
conducted a series of arrests in June and July of 1942. Finally, the question of the fate
of between 8,300 and 8,400 Polish officers who had been taken prisoner by the Soviet
forces in 1939 and who were supposed to be released from the prison camps at Kozel'sk,
Starobelsk and Ostashkov became a source of Polish-Soviet discord. The discovery by the
Germans of mass graves of between 4,443 and 4,800 Polish officers at Katyn on April 13,
1943, seemed to confirm Polish suspicions. The Soviet authorities responded by accusing
the Polish government of collaboration with the Germans. On April 25, 1943, the Soviet
government broke diplomatic relations with the Polish government, and the mission of the
Polish Embassy was officially terminated.
The Polish ambassador in Moscow from 1941 to July 5, 1942 was Stanislaw Kot. After the
general evacuation, when the Embassy was moved to Kuibyshev, the post was assumed by
Tadeusz Romer. He remained there until July 25, 1943, although his official status had
been revoked in April of that year. The Romer papers are located at the Public Archives
of Canada, and a microfilm copy has been deposited at the Hoover Institution.
A major part of the activity of the Polish Embassy was the organization of a network of
social welfare "delegations" administered by "hommes de confiance" appointed by the
Social Welfare Department. The Embassy repre-sentatives were responsible for the physical
well-being and in some cases the religious and educational care of the more than one
million Polish citizens deported by the Soviet authorities to labor camps and settlements
in 1939-1941. A mass southward evacuation of these deportees was effected in 1943, and
many made their way to Britain via Iran. A large number were interviewed in Tehran in
1943 regarding their experiences in the USSR. The interviews themselves are a part of the
General Wladyslaw Anders Collection at the Hoover Institution.