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APPENDICES
Government in answer to our invitation? I should like to ask
President Bierut to name the speaker who will present to us the posi-
tion of the Polish Government.
  PRESIDENT BIERUT: (Expresses thanks for the invitation to the
Conference and begins the report.) In connection with this World
War, Poland has been placed in a situation which changes her bound-
aries. Resolutions of the Crimean Conference 4 determined the
eastern boundary of Poland, but the western boundary was not
established. We accepted the eastern boundary in accordance with
the resolutions of the Crimean Conference and the Moscow Confer-
ence.5 Our government would like to express its opinion with regard
to the western boundary of Poland. I should like to point out that
the Government of National Unity has unanimously arrived at the
following conclusions: we should all like to ask, when our western
borders are established, that there be taken into consideration the
vital interests of Poland, i. e., the factors without which Poland will
not be able to exist.
  Poland is a state which became the object of German aggression.
As a result of this war Poland has suffered the most heavily in popula-
tion and material of all the states participating in the war. Our
country was damaged more than any other country in this war. We
realize that in order to establish a lasting peace in all Europe Poland,
which suffered great losses in the war for that peace, must also make
certain common sacrifices at this time, in the same way as other
nations. From the territorial standpoint, Poland had to give up an
area of 180,000 square kilometers in establishing her eastern boundary.
We consider it proper and just that the eastern boundary was estab-
lished in accordance with ethnic principles. I believe that the equiv-
alent which Poland should receive in accordance with the decisions
of the Big Three should include such a territorial increase as would
guarantee to Poland a boundary appropriate from the standpoint of
security as well as an area which would be a compact unit from the
standpoint of economy and defense of the state. In our plan we
drew up precisely such a boundary, based in the north on Swinemiinde,
which gives Stettin to Poland and runs along the Oder and the Neisse
to the Czechoslovak border.6 It is true that from the territorial
standpoint the establishment of such a boundary would return to
Poland less than what Poland has lost in the east, but from the
economic standpoint it would guarantee better conditions for develop-
ment. The total area of Poland would be reduced from 380,000
square kilometers to 309,000 square kilometers, i. e., by approxi-
mately 70,000 square kilometers. From the demographic standpoint
4 See document No. 1417, section VI.
5 See vol. i, document No. 493.
5 See vol. i, document No. 517  See also the map facing p. 1152 in this volume.
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