U.S. TELLS POLES IT REGRETS BROADCAST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630077-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 77
• Publication Date: January 17, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25 CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630077-7
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NP'.' YORK TI1?,17
17 JanuTry 1985
U.S. Tells Poles It Regrets Broadcast
Ey BERNARD GWERTZMAN
Special to The New Yozi: 'Times
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16? The State
Department, in response to a Polish
Government protest, said today that it
regretted that a Radio Free Europe
broadcast had implied that Poland was
similar to Nazi Germany and Prime
Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski similar
to Hitler.
Poland regularly complains to Wash-
ington about broadcasts by Radio Free
Europe, a station in Munich financed
by the United States Government that
beams programs to Poland and other
Eastern European countries, but until
today the State Department had
brushed such protests aside.
The latest complaint, concerning a
broadcast meant to evoke parallels be-
tween Nazi Germany and present-day
Poland, was made by the Polish For-
eign Ministry to the United States Em-
bassy in Warsaw last week and was ex-
pressed publicly by the Polish Govern-
ment spokesman on Tuesday. It was
taken seriously by Washington this
time.
A State Department official said the
Administration had expressed "re-
gret" because it wanted to assure the
Poles that the offending broadcast was
not approved by Washington and that
the Administration remained inter-
ested in normalizing relations now that
most economic penalties have been lift-
ed.
Poles Resist Envoy Exchange
In particular, the United States is
discussing with the Poles the restora-
tion of diplomatic relations to the am-
bassadorial level for the first time
since the imposition of martial law in
Poland 37 months ago.
John D. Scanlan has been the Amer-
ican nominee during most of that peri-
od, but the Poles have refused to ex-
change envoys.
"We agreed that the particular
R.F.E. broadcast was in very poor
taste and was indeed offensive," one
State Department official said.
The broadcast occurred on Jan. 5 and
was part of a regular program for Pol-
ish youth, a senior Radio Free Europe
executive, William A. Buell, said. He
said it was clearly intended to be recog-
nized as satire and was not intended to
be taken seriously as a comparison of
Hitler with General Jaruzelski.
On that date, he said, R.F.E.'s youth
program carried several satirical
items taken from a parody of the War-
saw humor magazine Szpilki, or Nee-
dles, that had been published by Polish
emigres in Paris.
'A Speech by the Fiihrer'
One of the items, he said, was intro-
duced without further explanation as
"a speech by the Fiihrer Adolf Hitler"
to a meeting of his party in Nuremberg
in 1939, in the period after his nonag-
gression pact with the Soviet Union
that preceded the Nazi invasion of Po-
land on Sept. 2, 1939.
The Hitler "speech," which Mr.
Buell said was an invention, was appar-
ently worded in such a way as to
parody addresses by current Commu-
nist Party leaders.
What evidently made it particularly
offensive to the Poles was that it was
"dedicated to General W. Jaruzelski,"
according to a translated transcript
made available by the State Depart-
ment, which obtained it from R.F.E..
It said in part: "Comrades, the time
has come to sum up our objective
achievements. And thee are not slen-
der, contrary to the hostile assertions
of imperialist English and American
propaganda."
"The greater part of our society has
rallied around the ideals of our party,
and has become morally and politically
united. Individuals who are hostile to
our system, being instigated by foreign
centers of international Zionism, are
isolated in the country. We will reso-
lutely combat them."
Gestapo Units 'Standing Guard'
"Standing guard over internal peace,
which we will not allow to be dis-
turbed," the text continued, "are Ge-
stapo units, which are devoted to the
cause of the party, and the army which
is morally healthy and inspired with
the spirit of socialism."
"One pillar of our foreign policy con-
sists of friendly relations with the
Soviet Union," it said.
It ended: "There will be no retreat
from socialism. Sieg Heil!"
Jerzy Urban, the Polish Government
spokesman, began his weekly news
conference on Tuesday by saying that
the R.F.E. broadcast of "Hitler's ad-
dress is a fabrication composed by the
R.F.E. editorial board so that it can
show similiarity to our party utter-
ances."
"The simple fact of comparing the
crime of the Hitlerite National Socialist
Party with the Polish United Workers
Party, which grew out of the struggle
against Hitlerism and which left thou-
sands of fallen people in the struggle, is
exceptionally insulting to the Polish
United Workers Party an to the entire
Polish people," Mr. Urban said.
"Without refraining from insults and
a halt to propaganda aggression, state-
ments by the U.S. Government about
its readiness to improve relations will
not find credibility with Polish public
opinion," Mr. Urban said.
State Department Statement
A State Department spokesman,
Alan Romberg, issued the following 1
statement today:
"Although Radio Free Europe re-
ceives funds from the U.S. Congress, it
is net a U.S. Government agency, nor is
it subject to editorial censorship by the
U.S. Government.
"We learned of the broadcast in
question after it was aired. "The U.S.
Government disassociates itself from
that broadcast and regrets any impli-
cation of similarity between Nazi Ger-
many and present-day Poland and
particularly between Adolf Hitler and
General Jaruzelski."
Radio Free Europe, and its sister
station, Radio Liberty, were founded
by the Central Intelligence A ency in
tie ea.rIv 1950's. Radio Liberty broad-
casts to the Smet Union and-R.P .E. to
Eastern Europe. Both stations scial- '
ize in providing news and commentary
ibout in'c-erriaI developments in the
Communist world.
After the C.I.A. connection was
widely report-R, Congress set up a .
Board for International Broadcasting
to oversee th-e-fvv?o sfations, whith oper-
ate from Munich. The members of the
board are chosen by the White House.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630077-7