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The West Germans opposed the imposition of sanctions and planned to go ahead with their aid commitments to Poland, which include $17 million in food. The Bonn government is anxious to preserve whatever is left of détente. So it took the position that General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Polish armed forces commander and Premier, had declared martial law not because he was ordered to do so by the Soviet Union, but because he was seeking to ward off Soviet intervention. This view was essentially shared by the British government, which believed that the Soviets had pressed Warsaw to crush Solidarity and restore the authority of the Polish government and party, but were not directly involved in Jaruzelski's crackdown. As Eagleburger quickly learned, the Western Europeans were not yet prepared to take concerted action against Poland, though European bankers did decide last week not to lend Poland the additional $350 million it had requested in an effort to stave off bankruptcy.
Throughout the week, Pope John Paul deliberately muffled his criticism of the Warsaw government, appealing for "a peaceful solution to the mutual collaboration between authorities and citizens." But at the end of his annual Christmas message, the Pope declared, in Polish, that he was sending an embrace to "all of Poland, our common homeland," including "those here in the square who represent Solidarity and all those listening on the radio."
In the meantime, the Pope sent a special envoy, Archbishop Luigi Poggi, to Poland to meet with the military government, which in turn was holding talks with a committee of leading Catholic laymen. Poggi delivered a letter from the Pope to Jaruzelski and had a long discussion with him. The Pope also received a personal report on the Polish situation from Polish Bishop Bronislaw Dabrowski, who had twice visited Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa in detention. What was most interesting about these diplomatic contacts between the Warsaw government and the Vatican was the implication that Poland's present rulers would welcome the support of the church in the event of future negotiations between the government and Solidarity.
As the second week of martial law ended in Poland, the Jaruzelski government appeared to be in fairly firm control in much of the country. In a Christmas Eve address, Jaruzelski claimed that "the process of disintegration of the state has been halted, and an end has been put to anarchy." The government eased its ban on travel within Poland, restored telephone service in some provinces and quietly removed the armored personnel carriers from Warsaw's Victory Square. It also reduced the length of the curfew in the capital and in some other cities, thereby permitting people to attend midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. At the holiday meal, the extra place at the dinner table that is traditionally set for an unexpected visitor had a special meaning in many homes this year: it marked the absence of Solidarity members and other citizens who were in detention or hiding.