Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-05-04

Vn Poland Protested
By Congress Members
BY the Associated Press.
The United States has fatty
denied Russian complaints that
Soviet citizens liberated from Ger
man prisons are being held by this
country without notice to Russia.
The State Department comment,
issued late yesterday conceded with
an outburst of protest in Congress
against the attitude taken by Rus
STA on Poland.
ut is as heartening as it is COM
mendable, Mr.. Speaker" Represent
ative Dingell, Democrat, of Mich
igan told the House, that President
Harry S. Truman, having a full
grasp. and understanding of the
situation, has definitely served
notice upon Russia, Mr.. Premier)
Stain, Mr.. Foreign Commissar)
Molotov, and upon the entire world,
that he stands uncompromisingly
for the fullfilment of the under
standing entered into under the
Yalta agreement
The Big Three agreed at Yalta
that the Warsaw provisional gov
eminent be broadened to include
other Polish elements, but this has
not been accomplished and Russia
has been seeking to get the Warsaw
regime admitted to the San Fran
cisco United Nations Conference.
Polish Constitution Day Observed.
While the House observed Polish
constitution day, other speakers
demanded Justice for Poland" and
in the Senate, Senator Ferguson,
Republican, of Michigan asserted
that the Russian government should
open occupied areas of Eastern Eu-
rope to American newsmen 80 that
mistrust and suspicion can be
eliminated"
The State Department discussion
Of freed prisoners came in reply to
an accusation April 80 by Colleen.
F. I. Golikov, chairman of the Soviet
Repatriation Commission, that Rus
sian prisoners freed in Western Eu-
rope had been removed to England
and this country without the Soviet
government being informed.
The State Department asserted:
l. There are now no German
prisoners of war in this country
claiming Soviet citizenship who have
not been repatriated except for eight
hospitalized at Soviet request.
2. There are lib who appear to
be Russian but who claim treat
ment as German prisoners under
the Geneva Convention. The de-
partment said they were captured
in German uniforms.
Seek to Protect Americans.
8. AS this country insists that all
German-held prisoners in American
uniforms be treated as Americans
under Geneva Convention rules, it
is holding these lib prisoners who
claim treatment as Germans in
order to live up to the convention
and thereby protect Americans still
in German hands.
4. Gen. Golikov's charge, made In
Pravda, that there are still 800 Red
Army officers in the United States
whose. whereabouts are concealed, is
not substantiated by the facts; this
Government knows nothing about
the alleged 800 officers.
The departments statement said
that during the early stages of the
invasion of Western Europe thou
sands of prisoners were brought to
this country, and among them 1890
were found to have claim to Soviet
citizenship. These were sent to
special camps for screening by Sow
let officers, and repatriated as fast
as Russia provided shipping.
Russian officials in England were
Informed last fall of three camps
in that country, the department
said, and have received weekly re-
ports since January on these camps.
Mr.. Dingell told the House that
Russia had failed to fulfill the Pol
ish agreement made by President
Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill
and Premier Stain at their Febru-
airy meeting in the Crimea.
Empty Chair Assailed.
He asserted that the present pro-
visional Polish government at War
saw lis Communistic, it is not Polish,
and 1t is not democratic, any more
than Russia is democratic"
He called Poland's empty chair at
San Francisco "a monument to the
brutal mistreatment of one ally
toward another"
Majority Leader Mccormack as
serted that future peace requires
that Poland be given the territory
that historically and rightfully be-
longs to it" and that the people of
Poland be allowed to determine in
their own way" the kind of govern
ment they want.
Justice will not be complete, Mi
nority Leader Martin declared, "un-
til there is free Poland" which in
cludes the land that can properly
De claSSlned as Polish.
Fertile Ground for Rumors.
Declaring that American knowl-
edge of what is going on in vast
reaches of Eastern Europe is "rudi-
mentary or Zero" Senator Ferguson
told the Senate he understood there
are no Americans in Budapest, in
Poland, nor in Vienna "in spite of
the fact that a new government has
come into being, in spite of the fact
that the U. S. S. r., Great Britain
and ourselves united in a policy
toward Austria in the Moscow dec
laration.'
He said he understood United