On February 4, 1945, leaders of large Britain, the US and the russian Union met in Crimea to establish postwar order in Europe. During the talks, which lasted until 11 February, they decided that Poland would lose the east Borders to the USSR and east and Central Europe would hit Stalin's sphere of influence.
Big three, from the left: Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill, during a conference in Tehran. Photo: Public domain
When the alleged large Three, or heads of the powers of the anti-Hitler coalition: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, president of the United States, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of large Britain and Joseph Stalin, leader of the russian Union, She sat for talks in YaltaThe situation on the fronts of the Second War was highly beneficial to Stalin. The Red Army was little than 100 km from Berlin and controlled much of east and Central Europe. In these areas the russian authorities formed the interdependent puppet governments. 1 of them was the Polish National Liberation Committee, which had been in existence since July 1944, later converted into the Communist Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland.
Western Allied armies, fighting, approached German borders. In turn, the United States fought hard The Pacific War with the Japanese and Roosevelt wanted to support the russian military in this battle. – Stalin utilized it, gaining an crucial bargaining card in negotiations – says Dr. Kazimierz Rybacki, historian of planet War II. He adds that the dictator guaranteed U.S. aid in exchange for confirmation The findings of the Tehran Conference The large 3 of late November 1943. It was there that the spheres of influence in Europe were initially divided between the West and the russian Union, giving east and Central Europe to the Soviets.
In Stalin's hands
One of the main topics of the talks that began in Yalta on February 4, 1945, was Polish case and decisions on the future of our country. “Poland was [...] the most urgent reason for convening the Yalta Conference and became the first for the large reasons that led to the breakdown of the large Coalition,” Churchill wrote in his memoirs “The Second planet War”.
The leaders of the powers established that the Provisional Government acting in Poland under the patronage of Stalin is to be transformed. "It should be reorganised on a broader democratic basis, including democratic leaders from Poland and from among Poles abroad", was recorded in the declaration after the Yalta Conference. The main task of the fresh government, called the Provisional Government of National Unity, was to hold free elections in Poland. He was besides to get the support of the Western Allies. “It was actually an announcement to retreat designation for the legal representation of the Polish nation, the Polish government in London, which happened in July 1945,” explains the historian.
The large 3 besides confirmed the shift of our border to the west. It was established that the east border of the Republic of Poland would run along the alleged Curzona line, i.e. the demarcation line of Polish and Bolshevik troops from July 1920, as defined in George Curzon's note, the British abroad Minister. “This was confirmed by the decision adopted in Tehran to lose east lands by Poland, which was given to the russian Union together with Lviv and Vilnius, the 2 most crucial centres in the east Borderlands,” noted Dr. Rybacki. It was considered that as part of a kind of compensation for territorial losses in the east Poland should get "significant territorial growth in the North and the West" at the expense of parts of the east lands of the 3rd Reich. The exact course of the western border on the Oder and Lysa line was established during Potsdam conference at the turn of July and August 1945. Poland received there, among others, Western Pomerania and Gdańsk, Lower Silesia, Opole and part of east Prussia.
Joseph Stalin and Harry Truman in Potsdam. photograph Wikipedia
Torn Europe
The large 3 in Yalta besides decided on the conditions to be laid down by the 3rd Reich after its surrender. It was established that German territory would be divided into 4 business zones: American, British, French and Soviet. Germans were besides to be demilitarized, the Nazi organization was to be delegated, and war criminals brought to justice. It was besides agreed that the 3rd Reich would pay war reparations and announced the resettlement of the German population from the lands of Poland and another countries. Stalin assured the president of the United States of his cooperation in creating the United Nations and in supporting the Red Amia in the Pacific in exchange for territorial conquests in the Far East, among others, the Kuryl Islands.
Against the findings of Yalta, the Polish government in London protested with Prime Minister Tomasz Arczewski at the head. The message of 13 February 1945 states that decisions concerning Poland cannot be recognised by the Polish government and cannot apply to the Polish people. It was emphasized that they were taken without the participation and cognition of the Polish government, which contradicts the right of all nation to act in defence of its own interests. "The removal from east Poland of half of its territory by imposing the alleged Curzon line as a Polish-Soviet border, the Polish Nation will adopt as a fresh demolition of Poland, this time by Polish allies" - noted in the document. The government in London besides warned that the creation of a temporary Polish government with the participation of Stalin-dependent communists would give the Soviets legitimacy to interfere in the interior affairs of Poland.
As observed by the Polish authorities on emigration, Stalin did not keep the Yalta arrangements for democratic elections in Poland. The elections held in 1947 were rigged and the full authorities were taken over by communists supported by the russian authorities. "The decisions taken in Yalta not only determined Poland's membership of the russian bloc, but besides divided Europe into east and western blocs for almost half a century," emphasised Dr. Rybacki.
The Yalta conference is inactive a symbol of the betrayal of Western allies who agreed to give Stalin east and Central Europe.
