Evening star., 1946-05-25
By Pauline Frederick
Iorth American Newspaper AIlioncs

NUREMBERG, May 25.-One year
after the end of war fought for
the four freedoms, Poland knows
nothing about freedom from fear
me terror in this tragic land is
such today that Poles risk arrest
and imprisonment for showing en-
thusiasm for Americans and for
democracy.
have just come from Poland. I
spent eight days there, "a hours of
which our entire party of 81 Ameri-
cans was held under arrest in a
train in the freight yards at Cra-
cow The 1916 version of the Ges-
tapo, the security police, sat on
watch outside in an American-made
UNRRA truck. The guards wore
GI clothing except for their Polish
caps.
I was in Poland on two fateful
holidays-May l, when the workers
and students marched under threat;
and May 3, when the Polish people
tried to celebrate their national
constitution day against the wishes
of the government with the result
that there were cold-blooded shoot
ings and mass arrests.
Plead with Americans.
1t is heartbreaking to witness as
I have-and as any American who
comes to Poland does-the way the
people cling to the sight of an
American as sort of sign that in
some way they will be delivered
from their bondage They stop you
on the street and after making sure
that no one is in earshot, plead:
Send us help for the June
80 referendum or there will be
slaughter"
On that day the Communist
dominated government, which is
estimated to have the support Of
not more than 3 per cent of the
people, will ask for a vote of ap-
proval on a one-house parliament,
naturalization of industries ana
land reforms, and Poland's west
ern boundaries. Nothing is said of
the eastern boundaries. Nor, more
than year after We day, is any
thing said about popular election.
One of the GIs with our party
came out of the Cracow YMCA on
May 3 after lunch. People were
marching with tiny Polish flags de-
spite the government prohibition
against celebrating their traditional
Fourth of July" When the people
saw the Yank they broke ranks and
surrounded him.
They shook his hand, cheered
him, began covering him with Ii
lacs. Then they boosted him to
their shoulders and started carry
ing him down the street. They had
gone about two blocks when an
American made half track ap-
peared. 1t mounted four 50-caliber
machine guns manned by Russian
soldiers. The Russians fired four
bursts over the head of the GI. The
crowd slowly disbursed with Kisses
and cries.
Crowd Gathers.
The following Sunday as our party
left church to walk to the hotel,
a crowd gathered about us. Under
the very barrels of the guns of the
security police and armed guards,
who were everywhere, they began
to cheer, Long Live the Americans" :"
They handed us armfuls of flowers.
and from the windows all along the
way, branches of lilacs were tossed
down to us. The crowd grew, and
so did the cheering. Finally, some
of the men were boosted to the
shoulders of the people and carried
the rest of the way.
Standing outside the doorway to
the hotel were four young Polish
girls, laughing and applauding the
performance. Before We were in
the hotel two Russian soldiers had
stepped up and led them away. AS
some one who was in Poland dur
ing Ithe German occupation OBJ
served, "at least the Germans told
person why he was being ar
rested. Today one can never find
out"
AS the young prisoners were taken
off, the angry crowd burst into cries
Of, I'VE Want Mikola jczyk!" Cthe
leader of the Peasant party who
would probably poll at least so per
cent of the votes if a free election
were held, Down with Commun-
lSmi" Give us back Wilma and
LWoW!"
U. S. Party Detained.
Our party was forcibly detained at
Cracow because a civilian member
OF the security police charged that
a. G1 of our party had shot him in
the arm. The incident was alleged
to have occurred about l o'clock in
the morning. At the time, security
officer told an officer of our party
that no one saw the shooting but
it was believed to be an American" :"
Two days later the security police
started to arrest the whole CT de-
tail of l3 on Cracow street. But
when crowd began to gather they
didn't dare. They waited Until the
men boarded the train and without
looking over all of them, pointed TO
one and said he was guilty. Tile CT
IN question had four witnesses to
prove that he was not anyWh here
near the scene of the alleged Incl
dent. No American saw the alleged
gunshot wound under a bandage
around the arm of the alleged victim.
When the accused CT was not
given into their custody Immediately
the security police put all members
Of the party under arrest and posted
guards to see that none of lis left
the train and that the train did not
leave CracoW. Thirty-six hours OF
negotiation between the American
Embassy, the Polish Foreign Office
and the security police resulted in
releasing the train and the rest of
the passengers-but the innocent GI
was left behind.
There are at least 80 American
citizens in Jail in Poland today on
charges ranging from manslaughter
cone case) to relatively minor rat
ters such as not having the proper
papers. In each case. negotiations
are painfully slow, dragging over
months while these Americans re-
main in Polish nriSonS Tn sor,oe