It was definitely a special moment – just a few weeks after the German Reich’s aggression against the Soviet Union, probably the first days of August 1941. Polish and Czechoslovakian diplomats arrived in Moscow: the new chargé d’affaires of the Republic of Poland, Józef Retinger and the Czechoslovakian deputy – Zdeněk Fierlinger. At the airport they were welcomed by, among others, British ambasador Stafford Cripps. Retinger was accompanied by brygadier general Zygmunt Bohusz-Szyszko. He was just appointed the Head of Polish Military Mission in USSR by Commander-in-Chief general Władysław Sikorski.

The arrival of Polish diplomats was the result of signing the so-called Sikorski-Mayski agreement on 30 July in London. It reestablished the official diplomatic relations between Polish Republic and USSR, which had been severed in the morning of 17 September 1939. Retinger actively contributed to the signing of this pact . He was later suspected of collaborating with British intelligence. In turn, Ambassador Fierlinger was considered a supporter of communism and suspected of working for the Soviets. The British ambasador was also considered a supporter of the Soviet Union.

Retinger held the position of chargé d’affaires only until the 5 September. Then Stanisław Kot was appointed in Moscow as an outright ambasador. General Bohusz-Szyszko was delegated by General Władysław Anders to form the 7th Infantry Division in December 1941. At the end of the war Fierlinger became the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia on behalf of the Social Democrats , and after the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d’état , he supported the communists. Cripps returned to Great Britain in 1942 and became the speaker of the House of Commons and then the Minister of Aircraft Production.

Polish-Soviet relations established at the end of July 1941 were severed on the night of 25–26 April 1943 as a consequence of the discovery of Soviet responsibility for the Katyn Massace.

A movie from the collection of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London.