Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-07-25
Seek Union for Peace
By Sigrid Arne,
Associated Press Writer.

NEW YORK.-1n the wrecked, hungry
cities of Central Europe the people are
voting as best they can, on vital issue:
A proposed postwar federation OF Gen.
trail Europe, composed of the nine coun-
tries which extend from Poland, on the
north, to Greece on the south.
The area is BACKED out by Nazi &C.
cupation. So the voting must be under
ground. 1t travels by word of mouth
from man to man, nation to nation;
and finally to New York to No. II West
Forty-second street, and the offices Of
the Central and Eastern European Plan
ming Board.
The votes are not the kind we know.
There can be no ballots in the UNDER
ground. There Is not even an exact
knowledge Of the numbers who vote
AYE" or may" But the voices are be-
ing heard. and they say that great groups
of the blackedout peoples have agreed
on how they want Central and Eastern
Europe organized after the war
Reduced to the simplest terms this
is what, it appears, they want: A fedora
ton of Central Europe which would bind
together the 13O,00O,oo0 people who live
in these prewar countries: Poland
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria Ru-
mania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Albania
and Greece.
There are many angles to the move.
Backers of Plan.
Who's behind it? What strength will
of
many followers do they have at home?
What sort of government do they want?
How will 1t effect the rest Of the world?
This information comes from numer-
GUS pamphlets and articles, published
here and abroad, from underground
papers, and signed pacts I've seen at the
Planning Board, from talking with DR..
Felix's Gross. secretary of the Planning
Board, who. before the war, was active
in Polish labor unions, and from a
talk with DR.. l.. Baranski former d.
rector of the Bank of Poland, who is
just in from London, to talk federation
with Americans. He is now chief planner
70. he F0lish government in exile.
W." frs, IS behind the move?
We frs he executive members of
this P ne Hoard. Their plans and
reseal9 lust that. They concen-
trate on 'ne ,ocial. economic and edu-
cational fields The political aspects are
left to the governments in exile in Lon
don. However, the boards work is given
strength by the fact that many of its
members are also officials in the exiled
governments.
Here's the membership:
SaVa Kosanovich. Yugoslav Minister
OF state who was democratic member
of Parliament. and Boris Furlan. Yugo-
slav Minister of Education, who was
professor before the war. Both men
work in New York.
Jan Masaryk, son of the first Czech
President, who now is the Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and Jaromir Necas,
: Czech Minister of Reconstruction, who
was the Minister of Public Works. Both
work in London.
In Cairo there is Greeces Prime Min
lister, Emanuel Tsouderos.
In New York there are two Polish
members of the board: Dr.. Gross and
ooll oeoiiIGyh, IOi lIleIly leader OF Jle
Polish miners union and now Minister
of Labor.
Others Favor Plan.
Outside the board, many others in
exile have expressed agreement:
The late Gen, Wladislaw Sikorski of
Poland, killed in a plane crash at Gil
braltar, was strong advocate It's be-
lleved he was surrounded by enough
men, strongly imbued with the idea of
federation, for the Polish group in Lon
don to carry on.
Eduard Benes, the last Czech Presi-
dent, has written long pamphlet. urg-
ing federation. He's scheduled for
| trip to Moscow, from London, for con-
| ferences
The plans for federation vary greatly:
| From loose organization to a central
/ governing council over all the countries.
! Several groups are at work on details.
here and abroad; but as yet no single
| detail has been o. KID by all the gov
ernments in exile
Three definite steps have been taken:
On November S, 1910, the Czech and
Polish governments in exile signed a
federation agreement
On January Is, 1912, the Greek and
Yugoslav leaders signed a similar agree
ment.
Last November men from the four