Sikorski-Mayski Agreement

The Sikorski-Mayski Agreement was a treaty between Soviet Union and Poland signed in London on August 17, 1941. Its' name was coined after two most notable signataries: Polish prime minister Władysław Sikorski and Soviet embassador to the United Kingdom Ivan Mayski.

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After signing the Nazi-Soviet Alliance in 1939, the Soviet Union took part in the war against Poland and its subsequent dismemberment. The Soviet authorities declared Poland non-existent and all of former Polish citizens from the areas annexed by USSR were treated as if they were Soviet citizens. This resulted in approximately 2 million Poles being arrested and imprisoned by the NKVD and other Soviet authorities.

However, with the outbreak of the Soviet-German War in 1941 the international situation of Soviet Russia changed and Joseph Stalin started to seek help from other countries opposing Hitler. Strongly encouraged by British Foreign Office diplomat Anthony Eden, Sikorski on July 30, 1941, opened negotiations with the Soviet ambassador to London, Ivan Mayski, to re-establish diplomatic relations between Poland and the Soviet Union. Later that year, Sikorski went to Moscow with a diplomatic mission (including the future Polish ambassador to Moscow, Stanisław Kot, and chief of the Polish Military Mission in the Soviet Union, General Zygmunt Szyszko-Bohusz). Sikorski was the architect of the agreement reached by both governments, that was finally signed on August 17, 1941.

Joseph Stalin agreed to declare all previous pacts he had with Nazi Germany null and void, invalidate the September 1939 Soviet-German partition of Poland and release tens of thousands of Polish prisoners-of-war held in Soviet camps. Pursuant to an agreement between the Polish government-in-exile and Stalin, the Soviets granted "amnesty" to many Polish citizens, from whom a 75,000-strong army (the Polish II Corps) was formed under General Władysław Anders. The whereabouts of thousands more Polish officers, however, would remain unknown for two more years, and this would weigh heavily on both Polish-Soviet relations and on Sikorski's fate.