The Potsdam Conference. A Historic Division.

The Warsaw Voice ^ | 20 July 2005 | Andrzej Markert

[lizol]

A Historic Division 20 July 2005

The Potsdam Conference 60 years ago-July 17-Aug. 2, 1945-determined the shape of Europe for more than four decades.

Convened to define the future of defeated Germany and the postwar order in Europe, the conference in fact marked the beginning of the Cold War. It established the division of Germany and Europe for nearly half a century.

Following the capitulation of Germany, the victorious powers embarked on energetic actions to establish peace according to their own program. For that purpose, the conference in Potsdam near Berlin was convened, with the participation of the Big Three: along with Joseph Stalin, it was attended by Winston Churchill, subsequently replaced by Clement Attlee, and the new President of the United States Harry Truman. The conference mainly addressed the postwar future of Germany. The participants decided that the territory of Germany and Berlin would be divided into occupation zones. Also settled was the issue of war reparation payments by Germany.

The conference adopted decisions concerning total disarmament of Germany, removal of vestiges of national socialism from social life, and supervision over the economy and administration by the Allied Control Council. It was also observed that public education in Germany had to strive for promoting peaceful and democratic views. Special emphasis was put on the fact that the German nation bore the responsibility for the war. It was also decided that war criminals would be punished, which laid the groundwork for the trial in Nuremberg.

In Potsdam, the issue of Poland was a considerable point on the agenda-the questions were discussed what territories to allocate to the country and how to determine its western border. Following long disputes and heated bargaining between the Big Three, finally the border was established on the Oder River and the Lusatian Neisse. Poland also obtained the southern part of former East Prussia. At the same time, a decision was made concerning displacement of the German population from the territories incorporated into Poland. Notably, that decision was made by the powers, not by Poland, hence the country cannot account for the relevant adjudication.

From the Polish perspective, the Yalta/Potsdam decisions meant that Poland's border shifted 250-300 kilometers westward. In all, besides the general dependence on the Soviet Union, Poland lost more than 70,000 square kilometers because its area was reduced from 385,000 to 312,000 sq km, despite the incorporation of the western territories. That shift entailed many complications. It was necessary to relocate nearly 20 million people, Poles from the eastern territories and the German population from Poland's western territories-a fact ignored by the victorious powers. Everything was decided by Stalin, who secured the most favorable terms for him.

The Potsdam Conference and the Paris Treaty legitimized the Soviet gains in effect of the Ribbentrop-Molotov treaty, including the loss of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina by Romania. In the wake of the Soviet aggression and enforced war, Finland lost some of its territory as well. Considering the eastern border enforced on Poland in 1944, the Soviet Union obtained immense territorial spoils of war-amounting to about 500,000 sq km-as a result of the imperialist policy unscrupulously pursued by Stalin.

The Potsdam Conference ended World War II in Europe. However, the postwar division of the continent in its aftermath was not fully overcome until 1989, when the countries of Central and Eastern Europe subdued by the Soviet Union regained sovereignty.

[Jack Black]

If Poles acted like Arabs there would be suicide bombings in Moscow until the missing territory was returned and an "eastern Polish homeland" established.

[Spirited]

Potsdam; a major blight on America's history.

Russia figured they could rule the US. It's still what they are trying to work now aided by the Chinese.

[twinself]

I agree. Putin understood Russia couldn't play superpower's role in longer term without being aided by the Chinese. Based on demographic trends I could bet most of Siberian lands will be populated mostly by the Chinese in 50 years anyway. Therefore Russia HAS to do something about it before it's too late. They cannot counterbalance China on their own so it's better to join them (commom military and political projects - Russian support for Taiwan annexation, and quite recently Shanghai group). Unfortunately for Russia their role will be the weaker partner in that tricky alliance...