Evening star., 1934-08-12
BY FRANK VI. sIMoNDs.

j WOOLb DC ulIuCutk 70 Imagine
any more surprising or Mt least
superficially less expIainable cir
Il cumstanee. than Poland's present
course. For a decade and half
the ties uniting Warsaw and Paris
were seemingly beyond all disturbing.
At the Paris Peace Conference Glenn
enceau was Paderewski'S best friend
in championlng Polish claims. A year
later Poland was saved from Boil
shevist invasion by weyrand and
French soldiers at the victory Of the
vistula. Then came the Upper silesian
affair in which French support lust
turned the scales and gave the Poles
their rich industrial area.
In the Locaino pacts the French
held out for guarantees for Poland.
And on many occasions French de-
fense OF the Polish Corridor consti-
tuted the single obstacle In Franco
British understanding. This Franco
Polish partnership lasted right down
to the moment when. in March year
ago. Hitler came to complete control
in the Reich.
Then something happened. APP
parently the trouble started when
France signed the four power pact
proposed by MuSsolini. although she
subsequently refused to ratify II out OF
Difference to Polish and Czech pro-
tests.
Nevertheless. little later there
emerged the Polo-German nom aggres-
sion pact. The explanation Of this
agreement was simple. Hitler, q ma
tive-born Austrian, was interested not
In the recovery of the Polish Corridor
and Upper Silesia for Germany, but
In the union of Austria with his Third
Reich, and sought to gain q free hand
in the south by consenting TO truce
in the east.
Embargo Lifted.
With this purpose in mind he Of
fered the Poles l0-year truce during
which each nation was to respect the
frontiers of the other and suppress
all agitations and propaganda which
might arouse bad feeling. In addition,
the unofficial trade embargo between
the two countries, which had lasted
for nearly q decade, was TO be ended.
Thus the corridor question, q night
mare of European statesmen since the
| World War. was for a time at least
removed from the list of powder kegs.
OF course, no Pole ever believed that
Hitlers truce would close the question
! finally On the other hand, the pros
pect OF 10 years Of peace Offered an
opportunity for further consolidation.
| Actually between 1918 and 1891 up
ward of a million Germans quit the
lands which the treaty OF Versailles
took from Prussia and handed back
| to Poland Now les than 400 900
| Germans still remain and they are
4.000,00 Poles. Meantime, Gydnia
has risen on the seacoast to serve
Poland's outlet on the sea, and a new
railway-built. incidentally, on French
loans-has made Poland independent
! of Dandg.
To be assured of 10 years more to
complete national restoration was
something no Pole could fail to recog-
niSe as stroke of good fortune. And
this security on the west was compile
mented by Soviet proposal for nom
aggression pact which would constitute
voluntary recognition OF the status
quo created by the Polish victory In
1920 and confirmed by the treaty OF
Riga. After long years Of dreading in
vasion and partition, Poland found
herself. invited to accept pledges OF
security on the east and west alike.
In such situation 1t is obvious that
Warsaw felt no further need Of the old
alliance with France. That had be-
come irksome. While it had not re-
strained the French from participating
in the four-power pact 1t had kept
Poland more or less in the status Of a
satellite and not an equal. Already
the Polish government and people had
reached q point In national reconstruc-
ton where they felt that Poland was
in fact once more an independent
power and entitled to treatment as
such
Factors of prestige. personality and
practical politics were involved in the
Polish course. The Soviets for a time
suspected that underneath the surface
there was also an agreement between
Hitler and Pilsudski pledging both to
common action against Red Russia and
to a program OF conquests and annexa-
tions in the Ukraine. But no proof of
such bargain has ever been produced
and the signing Of the non aggression
pact between the Poles and the Soviets
seems q SUFFICIENT refutation of the
charge Again, while visibly drawing
away from France, the Poles have
continued their military alliance with
their traditional friend.
Nevertheless, when France and
Soviet Russia presently proposed their
regional pact, which they described as
an Eastern Locarno and Britain not
merely indicated its approval Of that
plan, but oficialy urged German ac-
ceptance, the Poles shared the German
lack of enthusiasm and unmistakably
sought to block it by their own diplo-
matte moves, alike in Lithuania and
Latvia. And the Polish attempts at
sabotage won hearty applause in Ber-
lin while producing surprise In Paris
and resentment in Moscow.
Have Undertaken Own Game.
For the moment that is how the
situation stands. The Poles have
manifestly set out to rid themselves of
their French leading strings. They
have undertaken to play q little balance
of power game Of their own between
Soviet Russia and Germany, just as
the Italians have for long time car
ried on a similar game by exploiting
Franco-German differences. But about
the whole affair there are still OBJ
scurities which find no other explana-
lion than that the marshaP'-Pilsud-
ski himself, who has never been
strongly Franeophile-ha interyened
personally or given rein to his young
and ambitious lieutenant, Col. Beck,
now foreign minister.
What has made the Polish per-
formance something less than a shin
ing success, however, has been the
German performance. In fact Pilsud-
ski, like Mussolini has been served an
i'll turn by Hitler. The massacre of
June 30 turned the whole world
against the Nazi regime That blood
u