Monday, 26 April

My left foot seems to be sprained. Last night it was so painful that I couldn’t sleep. Today I asked the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs doctor to come to see me and he said he couldn’t decide if I had sprained my ankle or if it was arthritis. He asked me to first soak it in hot water for a few minutes and then put some medicine on it for twice a day and to take tablets three times a day.

At noon, the Czechoslovakian Ambassador invited me to lunch in the big hotel. He told me that because the Polish Government believed the enemy’s rumour that the Soviets have killed over 8,000 Polish officers they had asked the Red Cross to investigate. The Soviet Union felt this was an unfriendly act and decided to cease diplomatic relations with the Polish Government.

At 5.00 in the afternoon, the Deputy People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs   Lozovsky asked me to come to their Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He told me about the matter that Polish military officers were killed by Germany (Those military officers were imprisoned in a small village near Smolensk. When the German army invaded the region, they were unable to escape. They were killed by Germany). It happened that the Polish Government wrongly publicised that the military officers were killed by the Soviet army. The Polish Government did not check the matter with its ally the Soviet Union and took it as fact, and asked the Red Cross to investigate. The Soviet Union fought bitterly with Germany, and this was extremely beneficial to Poland, but Poland instead helped their joint enemy to make this anti-Soviet move. The Polish Government wanted to use this to get the Soviets to agree with the border problems, so the Soviet Government had decided to cease diplomatic relations with the Polish Government. Since China and the Soviet Union are Allies, therefore he was instructed by the government to inform me. I asked him when this would be announced. He said probably tonight or tomorrow. In the end he said the Polish people should not agree with their government, so the Soviet Government still maintained a very friendly attitude towards the Polish people. He also reckoned that the ceasing of diplomatic relations would not affect the Soviet Union’s war plans. I then returned and sent a report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

My legs are painful mainly because I do not walk. Today I felt a lot of pain. Yet I have to walk frequently. I have to use a walking stick. Every step is agony. Life is always like this. I cann’t help but smile to myself.