ABSTRACT
The New York Times said of Józef Hieronim Retinger that he was on intimate terms with most leading statesmen of the Western world, including presidents of the United States. He has been repeatedly acknowledged as one of the principal architects of the movement for European unity after World War II. On June 22, 1941 the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. Their progress was extraordinary, and Soviet defensive efforts were incompetent. Sikorskiand Zaleski were the Polish representatives; the British provided Cadogan, later replaced by Eden. There were essentially two contradictory Polish positions regarding theputative settlement. Members of Sikorski's cabinet argued that theSoviets were losing the war to Germany. Sikorski's main goal was to gain Stalin's cooperation in improving the lot of the thousands of Polish prisoners still suffering under Soviet domination, and to convince Moscow that they should be released.
