Some messages back, we discussed the Czech harbors in Hamburg and
Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland).

I inquired at the Szczecin local government about the current state of
the lease. They in turn consulted professors in history at the local
university as to the nature of the area.

There is a wharf in the harbor that carries the name "Czechoslovakia"
but pointed out that there are other wharves named after other eastern
European countries, too. So long as Szczecin has belonged to Poland
(since 1945), Czechoslovakia has not possesed any extra-territorial
rights in the city or over any part of the harbor. I learned that
Szczecin harbor was the home port for all Czech ships. To what extent
this continues today was not made clear. All arrangements between the
Czechs and Poland for the use of harbor facilities are done under
provisions of strictly commercial contracts.

The Polish and Russian Armies captured Szczecin in 1945, and Polish
citizens settled there, at first thinking that they might only be able
to stay for a short time, as nobody knew for how long the city would
remain Polish. The Russians remained in the city for a nuumber of
years after the end of the war and controlled the harbor completely,
effectively ignoring any rights that Germany, Poland and
Czechosloavkia may have had. It appears that the German concession
ceased at the end of the war and that no successor paid any attention
to the pre-war rights the Czechs had under the Versailles Treaty.

In summary, neither the Polish or the Russians appear to have assumed
any of the pre-war liabilities that the Germans had, given that there
is no lease currently operating in Szczecin now. The bankruptcy of
the Czech harbor managing concessionaire operating in Hamburg is
strictly a German-Czech problem.

Regards

Len Nadybal