sidered by our governments as final. And it was in accordance
with this that measures haye been taken in this period to
settle these territories with Poles- Surely no one can con-
ceive the idea that the deportation of Germans from these
territories and the settlement of Poles there was undertaken
only as a temporary experiment. The governments which
accepted these decisions and carried them into effect could
not, of course, have considered that the decision of the
Potsdam conference would in any way be liable lo revision in
the future. Such matters are not to be trifled with, to say no-th-
ing of the fact that it would be an intolerable cruelty, not
only towards the Poles but towards the Germans themselves.
We must respect our decisions. I hope we all respect
them in equal degree. We must respect the commitments \ve
assume. I have no doubt whatever that we all respect the
commitments assumed by our governments. Only then will
they be respected by others.
The Potsdam conference decided to postpone giving
formal shape to this decision until the Peace Conference.
And it could not have done otherwise from the formal
standpoint, but, in essence, the decision of the Potsdam
conference in respect of the western frontier of Poland was
final and not subject to revision.
Consequently, the Soviet Government sees no necessity
to appoint any committee to study this question. It was
sufficiently studied at the time, and after that the Govern-
ments of* Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet
Union adopted a decision, to which France adhered. When
the time comes for demarcating the frontiers, then, as is
usual in such cases, it will be done by appropriate repre-
sentatives of the states concerned. But (hat is a matter for
the future.
.„ We need, not doubt that the industrious Polish people
will make good use of the lands that have passed to Poland
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