ABSTRACT
On August 12, 1941 the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet granted "amnesty to all Polish citizens presently on Soviet territory who were deprived of freedom either because of being war prisoners or because of other sufficient reasons." Immediately after the decree on amnesty was issued, a dozen or so of the most prominent Poles in Soviet hands, among them General Wladyslaw Anders, were released from Soviet prisons. When the Polish Government learned from its underground sources that the Soviets had left behind their own agents and organizations in Eastern Poland, Sikorski, while in Moscow, attempted to reach an agreement with General Zhukov which could coordinate the activities of the Polish underground organizations with those of Soviet partisans and parachutist groups operating on Polish territory, Zhukov rejected his proposals. After Sikorski's departure from Moscow and after his visit to Washington in particular, the Soviets began to create various difficulties for the Poles in the U.S.S.R.
