Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume IV

860C.00/11–1747

Memorandum by the Former First Secretary of the Embassy in Poland (Andrews)¹

top secret

[Washington,] November 17, 1947.

At 6:45 p. m. on Friday, October 17th, Mr. Mikolajczyk sent an urgent message to Mr. Blake, Second Secretary of the Embassy in Warsaw, saying that he wished to see him. As Mr. Blake was not available at the moment, Mr. Andrews, First Secretary, went around immediately to Mr. Mikolajczyk’s house. The Polish Peasant Party leader informed Mr. Andrews that after the most serious thought and consideration from every angle, he was convinced that the Polish Government was about to suspend his parliamentary immunity and that of the other PSL Deputies and to seize him and certain other PSL Deputies for trial. He had received this report from two very reliable sources, he said. The Government would take this action, according to Mikolajczyk, at the forthcoming session of the Sejm scheduled to open Monday, October 27th. He felt that, as in the case of Petkov, the death sentence was a foregone conclusion and he did not think that to allow himself to be the victim of judicial murder would serve the cause of Poland or any other useful purpose. He added that he saw no sense in dying a needless death if he could possibly escape. He accordingly made a moving appeal for our assistance in getting him out of Poland and into friendly territory.

Mr. Andrews reported this to Ambassador Griffis immediately and the Ambassador responded by stating that he very definitely wanted to help Mikolajczyk escape from Poland. Accordingly, a meeting took place that evening at the Embassy residence at which were present the Ambassador, the Counselor,² the Military Attaché³ and Mr. Andrews. It was decided that in view of the moral responsibility which we shared with the British for having induced Mr. Mikolajczyk to return to Poland in 1945, we would on our own responsibility and without reference to anyone else except the British Embassy, endeavor to save Mr. Mikolajczyk from the Communist-dominated Polish Government.

It so happened that an American military truck convoy had arrived from Berlin on the previous day for the purpose of removing to Berlin 102 bodies of American war dead who had previously been buried in Poland. The convoy was to leave on Sunday morning, October 19th, and consideration was given to the possibility of concealing Mr. Mikolajczyk in an empty coffin in the convoy. At the same time every other possible alternate route was examined and given thorough consideration. The meeting was adjourned at about 11 p.m. and arrangements were made for a further meeting the following day at which it was agreed that the British Chargé should be invited.

At 11:30 a.m. on October 18th a second meeting was held at which in addition to the participants of the previous day were present Mr. Broad, British Chargé, Mr. Blake and the Captain in charge of the American motor convoy. It should be placed upon the record that the Captain of the convoy, fully cognizant of the dangers inherent in endeavoring to smuggle Mr. Mikolajczyk out by the convoy, did not hesitate in offering his services and that he expressed the opinion that there was a good chance for success. Other methods of escape were given thorough consideration, including the possibility of assistance over the Czechoslovakian border through Czechoslovakia and into the American Zone in Germany and also the route to Gdynia, thence on to a port either for Sweden, Denmark or Great Britain. In view of the fact that the route through Gdynia involved only one frontier, whereas the other routes involved two or more, a telephone message was sent to Mr. Walpole Davis, head of the Moore-McCormack Steamship Lines in Gdynia, that the Ambassador would like to see him in Warsaw the following day. At the same time, Mr. Broad agreed to send his Naval Attaché, Captain Ruck-Keene, to Gdynia at once with a view to examining the situation regarding ships leaving for England.

At 12:45 p.m. on October 18th Mr. Andrews went to see Mr. Mikolajczyk in his office at PSL headquarters and had a conversation with him which lasted 50 minutes. Under the Ambassador’s instructions and in accordance with the agreement reached by the members of our Embassy and Mr. Broad, Andrews offered him the three following suggestions: (1) that he be smuggled out in a casket on the American convoy; (2) that he be taken out via Czechoslovakia; and (3) that he be assisted out of the country via Gdynia on a foreign ship. Mikolajczyk said that he preferred the last-named plan and that he did not like the idea of the casket because he felt that this would be very bad from the political angle for his political party and for all Poles opposed to the Communist Government in the event that he should be discovered trying to escape by such a method. Furthermore, it would be impossible for him to leave on Sunday, October 19th, because, as the Polish Government knew full well, he had arranged to meet with leaders of the Polish Peasant Party at 11 o’clock, October 20th, and if he did not appear at that meeting his absence would be immediately noted and all border and other patrols would be alerted forthwith. He stated, however, that he would be prepared to leave at any time after 4 p.m. on Monday, the hour when the meeting would be over, even by the American convoy in a coffin.

Meanwhile, the Ambassador, Mr. Crocker, Colonel Betts, Mr. Broad, and Mr. Blake had proceeded to the latter’s country house for a further discussion. At about 3 p.m. Andrews reported to the Ambassador and the others what Mikolajczyk had told him. At this meeting it was decided to discard the motor convoy plan, even though the Captain of the convoy had stated that he could hold up his departure until Tuesday morning.

On October 19th, Sunday, a further meeting was held at which were present the Ambassador, the Counselor, the Military Attaché, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Blake, Mr. Broad, and Mr. Davis, who had arrived from Gdynia. Mr. Davis stated that a British vessel, the Baltavia, was scheduled to sail on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 21; that he had been in touch with the British Naval Attaché, who thought the sailing could be put ahead several hours; and that arrangements bad been made with the Captain of the British vessel to conceal Mr. Mikolajczyk on board provided we could deliver him. After several hours, detailed arrangements were worked out and agreed upon according to the planned schedule outlined below which actually was adhered to and proved successful. It was decided that since Andrews had seen Mikolajczyk on two days running, it might arouse the suspicions of the Security Police if he saw the PSL leader again, and that Blake should call on Mikolajczyk that evening, which he did. Mr. Blake had a conversation with Mikolajczyk of an hour’s duration and outlined to him a plan which was accepted by Mikolajczyk, was adhered to and proved successful: At 6:30 p.m., Monday, October 20, an Embassy truck which had previously been carefully loaded with cases and boxes belonging to the British Chargé marked for London was parked at a rendezvous on a Warsaw street agreed to previously with Mr. Mikolajczyk. The latter arrived at the rendezvous accompanied, however, by a male companion which had not been previously agreed upon and after about ten minutes of reconnoitering succeeded in entering the truck where he made his way through a prepared tunnel in the boxes and rearranged them after his entrance so that he was thoroughly concealed. The truck, which was driven by Mr. Penhallow, in charge of the Embassy garage and motor truck service, who was accompanied by Sergeant Sliwka of the Military Attaché’s office, set off for Gdynia. It was necessary for the truck to pass nine control points at each one of which the truck was stopped it should be mentioned that the driver of the truck, Mr. Penhallow, reported that for two to three hours his truck was preceded by a car which kept a measured distance ahead of the truck at whatever speed he chose to drive. This would indicate that Mikolajczyk, without previous arrangement with us, had made arrangements to have this car stand by in the event that he was discovered in order that he might make a break for it, if necessary. On one occasion the Polish guard insisted upon examining the contents of the truck, which he did with a flashlight, raising the canvas cover and peering about. At that point the driver of the truck, who had previously been supplied with 500,000 zlotys for purposes of bribery if absolutely necessary, stated that he had held the money in one hand and a monkey wrench in the other, prepared to use either if necessary. Fortunately, however, the examination proved to be of a cursory nature and the escapee remained undiscovered. After many vicissitudes, including several blowouts, the truck arrived at the house of Mr. Davis in Sopot at about 3:30 a.m., with one of the rear tires burning from friction, since there had been no time to repair any more blowouts. Great credit should be given to Penhallow and Sliwka for the courage, ingenuity and efficiency with which they carried out the mission assigned to them.

Mr. Mikolajczyk was taken by Mr. Davis into his house and given breakfast and allowed to relax, and at a quarter to seven he and Davis drove openly to the steamship pier in Davis’s own car. Upon arrival at the pier, Mr. Davis put on a great show of indignation against the British Embassy in Warsaw for attempting to place the British Chargé’s boxes and goods on the ship at the last moment before sailing, enlisted the sympathetic attention of the Polish guard at the gangway and persuaded him to proceed away from the ship to the customs shed where the manner of the loading of the goods was further discussed. Taking advantage of the momentary absence of the guard, Mr. Mikolajczyk walked up the gangplank of the vessel, where he was immediately concealed in the sick bay by the Captain. A few minutes later, the Polish guard announced that he was being relieved and after a change of guard took place, Mr. Davis went aboard the vessel, spent a brief time with the Captain and walked off the gangplank in view of the Polish guard and drove off. The ship sailed at about 9:30 in the morning and by noon was out of Polish territorial waters and safely on the way to London, where it was due to arrive on October 26th. The same credit should be given to Mr. Davis as that which should be given Mr. Penhallow and Sergeant Sliwka, for if the plan had been detected by the Polish authorities, he would have jeopardized his job in Gdynia and his career.

It should be a matter of record that in making the arrangements with Mr. Mikolajczyk for his escape, the American Ambassador and his staff had made it clear that they were prepared to render assistance only to Mr. Mikolajczyk and to no one else; furthermore, that he was to leave without informing anyone of his impending departure. He asked that an exception might be made with respect to his secretary. (It should be noted that in the interview between Mr. Mikolajczyk and Mr. Andrews on October 18th, Mikolajczyk stated that Mrs. Hulewicz, his secretary, was actually his wife, since he had been secretly divorced from his former wife, now in England.) It was therefore agreed that although the Embassy was not prepared to assist his secretary in crossing the Polish-Czechoslovakian frontier, arrangements would be made with the American Military Attaché at Prague that if she succeeded in leaving Poland she would present herself to him and that he would inform the American authorities in the American Zone in Germany so that she could be assisted upon her arrival in that Zone. (It was later learned that Mrs. Hulewicz had been discovered in Czechoslovakia and returned to Polish authorities in Poland.)

George D. Andrews

1. George D. Andrews served as First Secretary in the Embassy from January 1946 until his departure from Warsaw on October 26, 1947. Andrews’ transfer to Vancouver as Consul had been authorized by the Department on October 6, 1947.

   For Ambassador Griffis’ own account of the events described in this memorandum, see Griffis, Lying in State, pp. 170–175

2. Edward Crocker.
3. Col. Thomas J. Betts.