Evening star., 1946-09-17
Big ) Are Committed
To Oder Border for
Poles, MoIotov Says
BY tho A.soeioied Press

western border along the Oder
River, Soviet Foreign Minister Molo-
tov maintains, because they accept
ed the evacuation of 2,000, 900 Ger
mans from the territory taken ovel
by the Poles, including Silesia.
Taking issue with a remark by
Secretary of State Byrnes in a re-
cent speech at Stuttgart, Mr.. Molo-
tov said IN a statement issued
through the Polish News Agency
last night that the Polish frontier
was fixed by the Big Three at Pots
dam more than year ago.
Mr.. Byrnes, in the course of his
Stuttgart policy speech September
6, said the United States would sup
port revision of Poland's western
frontiers lin Poland's favor" but
added: THE extent of the area to
be ceded to Poland must be de-
termined when the final settlement
is agreed upon"
Commitments Seen.
Mr.. Molotov agreed that it was
quite right to refer to the
fact that the Berlin (Potsdam)
conference thought it necessary to
postpone the final settlement ol
Poland's frontiers to the peace con-
ference" Nevertheless, he continued
Russia, the United States and Brit
ain already have expressed Their
opinions about the future western
frontier by handing Silesia to the
Polish government" and have COM
mitted themselves further by "ac.
cepting the evacuation of the Ger
mans from these territories"
Who would have thought that
this evacuation of Germans might
have been considered as a temporary
experiment." he inquired.
He said the Potsdam agreement
already had determined the west
ern Polish frontiers (along the Oder
and Western Neisse Rivers, and it
is only awaiting now the formal
confirmation at the future inter-
national conference for drafting the
peace treaty with Germany"
Text of Statement.
The text of Mr.. Molotov's state
ment follows:
I'm his speech made in Stuttgart
on the sixth of September Mr..
Byrnes said that the heads of the
governments of the United States,
Great Britain and the Soviet Union
have agreed at the Berlin (Potsdam)
Conference to pass over to the ad-
ministration of the Polish state
Silesia and other former Eastern
German provinces, but he contended
that they have not decided then to
support any transfer of specific ter
ritory to Poland at the time of the
peace settlement and that the size
of the territory ceded to Poland
ought to be determined at the time
of the final settlement of the
problem.
1T must be pointed out that Mr.
Byrnes' declaration can raise some
doubts concerning the stability OF
the present western frontiers OF
Poland, and that is why 1t cannot be
left without an answer.
I'm connection with this the
attention must be drawn to some
Of the facts.
First of all it has to be recalled
what were really the decisions of the
Berlin conference?
Final Settlement Delayed.
~As it is known the heads of the
three governments on this confer
ence have agreed that the former
German territories east of Swine
muende, the Oder and Western
Neisse should be administered by the
Polish state, and that the final set
tlement of the Western Polish from
tier should be postponed till the
peace conference.
This resolution was only a full
f1lment Of the decision made at the
Crimean conference of the three
powers, which half a year earlier has
recognized that Poland ought tc
have her territory substantially in
creased in the north and in the west
I'm this way the Berlin confer
ence has accomplished only what
was intended before at the Crimear
conference still with the participa-
ton of President Roosevelt, and this
decision cannot be considered as
accidental and taken under the in
fluence of transient circumstances.
"On the contrary, the decision oi
shifting of Poland's Western frontier
to the Oder and Western Neisse was
taken after long debates in which
the representatives of the Polish
government had also taken part,
Population Transferred.
TO this it must be added that tn,
French government had also agreed
to such solution.
How great an Importance was at
tached by the Berlin conference Il
the decision concerning the new
Polish western frontier is eviden
, from the following:
"On this conference still anothe
decision was taken, i.e., concernin,
the transfer to Germany of the Ger
man population from the territor,
assigned to Poland. AS all this ha.
been already made public there i
no need to go into details.
The decisions of the Berlin con
ference have not remained on paper
and Immediately after the confer
ence their realization began to tax,
place. Since more than a year tn,
western frontier of Poland run.
along the line Swinemuende- Oder
Western Neisse.
THE administration of the entir,
territory TO the West of that line i
for a second consecutive year in tn,
hands OF the Polish government. Al
early as November 26, 1945, the con
troll council in Germany has &C
cepted the plan of evacuation O
German population from Poland
According to this plan, the evacua
ton of $500 900 Germans from Po
land to the Soviet and British zone
Of occupation in Germany wa
started Immediately. From tina
date the evacuation was carried OF
without interruption up till the pres
ent Gay.
Poles Are Resettled.
Over 1000 900 Germans hav
been transferred already from Po