29. Major Lloydasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is yet able to make a statement concerning the recent arrest of Mr. Charles Whitehead by the Polish authorities.
§ Mr. BevinYes, Sir. Mr. Charles Whitehead, a Polish national, who has been employed for the last 18 months in the commercial section of His Majesty's Embassy, was arrested on 17th October. The arrest took place without any warning or explanation to His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires during some important commercial negotiations which a British Delegation was conducting with the Polish authorities. No formal charge has yet been made but General Grosz, the Director of the Press and Information 1819 Department of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has thought fit to accuse Mr. Whitehead of collaboration with the Germans during the war. In actual fact Mr. Whitehead, who was wounded while fighting in the Warsaw rising against the Germans, risked his life on many occasions in helping British prisoners of war escape from the Germans, an action for which both he and his father received certificates. Though the House may feel this step is rather unusual, I should like to give further details of Mr. Whitehead's activities in Poland during the war, and with permission, I propose to give those further details in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the statement:
§ Although no charge has been preferred by the Polish authorities against Mr. Whitehead, General Grosz, the Director of the Press and Information Department of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has alleged in statements to the Press that Mr. Whitehead, as technical manager of the Wedel Chocolate Factory during the war—a factory which he stated worked only for the Germans—organised a network of informers to spy on members of the factory staff who worked in the Polish Underground. By ordinary canons of justice it would have seemed preferable to avoid making public accusations of this sort while the affair is presumably sub judice. But as an attempt has been made in this way to blacken the reputation of one of their employees at a time when he is unable to reply or to defend himself in public, His Majesty's Government feel it only right to state what is known beyond question in London of Mr. Whitehead's activities during the war.
§ Though of British origin, the Whitehead family had been resident in Poland for many years. Mrs. Whitehead was a member of the Wedel family, well-known in Warsaw. Mr. Charles Whitehead assumed Polish nationality some time before the war. Upon the German invasion of Poland he was called up, joined his unit in the Polish Army, and took part in the six weeks campaign of 1939. Subsequently he resumed his work in the Wedel factory in a position where he was responsible for the engagement of staff and for appointments, etc., within the factory (a position in which it is easy to make personal enemies). Like many other factories in Poland it had to work for the Germans, but Wedel products found their way, thanks to Mr. Whitehead's efforts, not only to escaped British prisoners of war and other British subjects in Poland but also to Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. This fact, together with other facts in this statement, is vouched for by Mrs. Walker, of 37, Harraden Road, Black-heath, S.E.3, who was constantly assisted by Mr. Charles Whitehead in providing food, clothing and lodgings for escaping British prisoners of war, and who was herself successful in escaping from the Gestapo.
1820§ Mr. Charles Whitehead's commercial connections with the factory were useful in that he obtained a job as head of a fire brigade which disposed of special passes granted by the Germans. He was thus in a number of cases able to secure passes for members of the Polish Underground. He himself at this time belonged to a Polish Underground Press Agency which collected and circulated the news put out by the British and other anti-German broadcasts.
§ On the outbreak of the Warsaw rising Mr. Charles Whitehead fought with the Polish forces and was wounded. After the city's surrender he succeeded in escaping outside Warsaw. When the Germans withdrew from Poland he moved to Katowice and established a small confectionery business which he ran until his employment by His Majesty's Embassy in January, 1946.
§ As already stated, both Mr. Charles Whitehead and his father received certificates, numbers 28012 and 28025, for help given to Allied prisoners of war. Among the prisoners helped were Major R. B. Littledale, D.S.O., K.R.R.C., who made good his escape from Poland, reached England and was subsequently killed after "D" Day; Lieutenant Davies Scourfield, K.R.R.C., now serving with his regiment in the Middle East and Mr. Silverwood Cope. The latter, who is now employed by His Majesty's Embassy in Rome, has stated that the Whitehead family were among those Poles who gave the most unstinted assistance and protection from the Gestapo to numerous escaped British prisoners. These details are corroborated by Mrs. Walker, who is referred to above. She adds that in the case of Mr. Silverwood Cope it was Mr. Charles Whitehead who came to her assistance in finding doctors and a nurse at a time during 1941 when Mr. Cope was in hiding but was taken seriously ill. A number of persons who worked closely with Mr. Charles Whitehead are known to have subsequently met their deaths for counter-Gestapo work. On the background of these facts, of which there is no doubt, it appears extremely unlikely that Mr. Charles Whitehead could have co-operated with the Germans as alleged.