Editing Potsdam Conference (section)

== Agreements ==<!-- This section is linked from [[Flight and expulsion of Germans during and after World War II]] -->
{{Main|Potsdam Agreement}}
[[Image:Vertreibungsgebiet.jpg|300px|thumb|Demographics map used for the border discussions at the conference]]
[[Image:Oder-neisse.gif|thumb|300px|The [[Oder–Neisse line]] (click to enlarge)]]
At the end of the conference, the three heads of government agreed on the following actions. All other issues were to be resolved by the final peace conference, which was to be called as soon as possible.

=== Germany ===
{{See also|Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)|Allied plans for German industry after World War II|Oder–Neisse line|Former eastern territories of Germany|World War II reparations}}
* The Allies issued a statement of aims for their occupation of Germany: [[demilitarization]], [[denazification]], [[democratization]], [[decentralization]], [[Allied plans for German industry after World War II|dismantling]], and [[decartelization]]. More specifically, as for the demilitarization and disarmament of Germany, the Allies decided to abolish the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]]; the [[Sturmabteilung|SA]]; the [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]], the Gestapo; the air, land, and naval forces; and organizations, staffs, and institutions that were in charge of keeping alive the military tradition in Germany. Concerning the democratization of Germany, the "Big Three" thought it to be of great importance for the [[Nazi Party]] and its affiliated organizations to be destroyed. Thus, the Allies would prevent all Nazi activity and prepare for the reconstruction of German political life in a democratic state.{{Sfn|Bevans|1968|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1227–1228]}}
* All Nazi laws would be abolished, which established discrimination on grounds of race, creed, and political opinion and as a result could not be accepted in a democratic country.<ref name="Bevans page 1228">{{Harvnb|Bevans|1968|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1228]}}</ref>
* Both Germany and Austria were to be divided into four occupation zones, as had been agreed in principle at [[Yalta Conference|Yalta]], and similarly, each capital ([[Berlin]] and [[Vienna]]) would be divided into four zones.
* Nazi war criminals were to be [[Nuremberg trials|put on trial]]. Specifically, at the Potsdam Conference, the three governments tried to reach an agreement on trial methods for war criminals whose crimes under the [[Moscow Declarations|Moscow Declaration]] of October 1943 had no geographical restriction. Meanwhile, the leaders were aware of ongoing weeks-long discussions in London between the representatives of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union. Their purpose was to bring the war criminals to trial as soon as possible and eventually to justice. The first list of defendants would be published before September 1. The leaders' objective was that the London negotiations would have a positive result validated by an agreement, which was signed at London on August 8, 1945.<ref name="Bevans page 1233">{{Harvnb|Bevans|1968|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1233]}}</ref>
* All German annexations in Europe were to be reversed, including the [[Sudetenland]], [[Alsace-Lorraine]], Austria, and [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|the westernmost parts of Poland]]. This was an important policy in order to moderate the geopolitical ambitions of Germany in the post-war scenario.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lewkowicz |first=Nicolas |title=The German Question and the Origins of the Cold War |publisher=IPOC |date=2008 |isbn=978-8-8951-4527-3 |location=Milan |pages=28}}</ref>
* Germany's eastern border was to be shifted westwards to the [[Oder–Neisse line]], which effectively reduced Germany in size by approximately 25% from its 1937 borders (and approximately 34% from its 1913 borders). The territories east of the new border were [[East Prussia]], almost all of [[Silesia]], [[West Prussia]], and two thirds of [[Pomerania]]. The areas were mainly agricultural, with the exception of [[Upper Silesia]], which was the second-largest centre of German heavy industry.
* "Orderly and humane" expulsions of the German populations remaining beyond the new eastern borders of Germany were to be carried out from [[Poland]], [[Czechoslovakia]], and [[Hungary]] but not [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]].<ref>Alfred de Zayas ''Nemesis at Potsdam'', Routledge, London 1977. See also a conference on "Potsdamer Konferenz 60 Jahre danach" hosted by the Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Berlin on 19. August 2005 [http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/fileadmin/images/Das_IfZ/jb2005.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720015314/http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/fileadmin/images/Das_IfZ/jb2005.pdf |date=20 July 2011}} Seite 37 et seq.</ref>
* Nazi Party members who held public positions and who opposed postwar Allied aims were to be removed from office. They were to be replaced by those who, based on their political and moral beliefs, were in support of a democratic system.<ref name="Bevans page 1228" />
* The German judicial system was to be reorganized based on democratic ideals of equality and justice under law.<ref name="Bevans page 1228" />
* The German educational system was to be controlled to eliminate fascist doctrines and to develop democratic ideas.<ref name="Bevans page 1228" />
* The Allies encouraged the existence of democratic parties in Germany with right of assembly and of public discussion.<ref name="Bevans page 1228" />
* Freedoms of speech, press, religion, and religious institutions were to be respected. The formation of free trade unions was to be permitted as well.<ref name="Bevans page 1228" />
* [[War reparations]] to the Soviet Union from its zone of occupation in Germany were agreed upon. In addition to the reparations, the Soviet Union would also receive reparations from the western zones of occupation, but it had to give up all claims on German industries in the western zones. Specifically, 15% of usable industrial capital equipment, consisting of metallurgical, chemical, and machine manufacturing industries, was to be removed from the western zones in exchange for food, coal, potash, zinc, timber, clay, and petroleum products from the eastern zones. The Soviet Union bore the responsibility of transferring the products from the eastern zone within five years. Moreover, 10% of the industrial capacity of the western zones unnecessary for the German peace economy were to be transferred to the Soviet Union within two years, without any obligation of further payment of any kind in return. The Soviet Union promised to settle the reparation claims of Poland from its own share of reparations.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bevans|1968|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1231]}}</ref> Stalin successfully proposed for Poland to be excluded from the division of German compensation and to be later granted 15% of the compensation given to the Soviet Union.<ref name="State Dept">{{Citation-attribution|1={{Cite web |title=Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, The Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference), 1945, Volume II – Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945Berlinv02/d1380 |access-date=3 May 2020 |website=history.state.gov |publisher=US State Department}} }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Potsdam Conference {{!}} World War II |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Potsdam-Conference |access-date=2018-09-20 |work=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> The Soviet Union did not make any claims on gold captured by Allied troops in Germany.<ref name="Bevans page 1232">{{Harvnb|Bevans|1968|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1232]}}</ref>
* The conference concluded that it was necessary to set limits regarding the disposition and future use of the defeated German navy and of merchant ships. The American, British, and Soviet governments decided that they would assign experts to co-operate, which would soon lead to principles to be agreed upon and announced by the three governments.<ref name="Bevans page 1232" />
* War reparations to the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries would be received from their own zones of occupation, with the amounts to be determined within six months. The United States and the United Kingdom would give up all claims on German industries located in the eastern zone of occupation, as well as on German foreign assets in Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Romania, and eastern Austria. The removal of industrial equipment from the western zones to satisfy reparations was to be completed within two years from the determination of reparations. The Allied Control Council was to make the determination of the equipment following policies set by the [[Allied Commission]] and with the participation of France.<ref name="State Dept" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Bevans|1968|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1231–1232]}}</ref>
* The German standard of living was to be prevented from exceeding the European average. The types and amounts of industry to be dismantled to achieve that was to be determined later (see [[Allied plans for German industry after World War II]]).
* The German industrial war potential was to be destroyed by the destruction or control of all industries with military potential. To that end, all civilian [[shipyards]] and [[aircraft parts industry|aircraft factories]] were to be dismantled or otherwise destroyed. All production capacity associated with war potential, such as metal, chemicals, or machinery factories, were to be reduced to a minimum level, which would later be determined by the [[Allied Commission|Allied Control Commission]]. The manufacturing capacity thus made "surplus" was to be dismantled as reparations or otherwise destroyed. All research and [[international trade]] were to be controlled. The economy was to be decentralised by decartelisation and reorganised, with the primary emphasis on agriculture and peaceful domestic industries. In early 1946, an agreement was reached on the details of the latter in which Germany was to be converted into having an agricultural and [[light industry|light industrial]] economy. German exports were to be coal, beer, toys, textiles, etc., which would take the place of the [[heavy industry|heavy industrial]] products that had been most of Germany's prewar exports.<ref>James Stewart Martin. ''All Honorable Men'' (1950) p. 191.</ref>

France, having been excluded from the conference, resisted implementing the Potsdam agreements within its occupation zone. In particular, the French refused to resettle any Germans expelled from the east. Moreover, the French did not accept any obligation to abide by the Potsdam agreements in the proceedings of the Allied Control Council. In particular, it reserved the right to block any proposals to establish common policies and institutions across Germany as a whole and anything that could lead to the eventual emergence of a unified German government.<ref name="Ziemke 1990 114">{{Cite book |last=Ziemke |first=Earl Frederick |title=The US Army and the Occupation of Germany 1944–1946 |date=1990 |publisher=Center of Military History, United States Army |pages=345}}</ref>

=== Austria ===
The Soviet Union proposed for the authority of [[Karl Renner]]'s [[Allied-occupied Austria|provisional government]] to be extended to all of Austria. The Allies agreed to examine the proposal after British and American forces entered [[Vienna]].<ref name="Bevans page 1233" />

=== Poland ===
{{See also|Western betrayal|Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II}}
[[Image:Curzon line en.svg|thumb|[[Second Polish Republic|Poland]]'s old and new borders, 1945. The territory previously part of Germany is identified in pink.]]
* A [[Provisional Government of National Unity]], created by the Soviets and known as the Lublin Poles, was to be recognized by all three powers. The Big Three's recognition of the Soviet-controlled government effectively meant the end of recognition of the London-based [[Polish government-in-exile]].
* The British and the Americans governments took measures for the Polish Provisional Government to own property in the territories of Poland and to have all the legal rights to the property so that no other government could have it.<ref name="Bevans page 1234">{{Harvnb|Bevans|1968|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1234]}}</ref>
* Poles serving in the British Army would be free to return to Communist Poland but with no guarantee of their security upon their return.{{Dubious|date=July 2020}}
* All Poles who returned to Poland would be accorded personal and property rights.<ref name="Bevans page 1234" />
* The Polish Provisional Government agreed to hold, as soon as possible, free elections with widespread suffrage and secret ballots. Democratic and anti-Nazi parties would have the right to take part, and representatives of the Allied press would have full freedom to report on developments during the elections.<ref name="Bevans page 1234" />
* The Soviet Union declared that it would settle the reparation claims of Poland from its own share of the overall reparation payments.<ref name="State Dept" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, The Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference), 1945, Volume II - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945Berlinv02/d972 |access-date=2020-04-15 |website=history.state.gov}}</ref>
* The provisional western border would be the [[Oder–Neisse line]], defined by the Oder and Neisse Rivers. Silesia, Pomerania, the southern part of East Prussia, and the former [[Free City of Danzig]] would be under Polish administration. However, the final [[delimitation]] of the western frontier of Poland would await the peace settlement, which would only take place 45 years later, in 1990, during the [[Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany]].<ref name="State Dept" />

The Soviet Union proposed to the Conference for the territorial questions to be resolved permanently after peace was established in those regions. More specifically, the proposal referred to the section of the western Soviet border near the Baltic Sea. The area would pass from the eastern shore of the Bay of Danzig to the east, north of Braunsberg and Goldap, to the meeting point of the frontiers of Lithuania, the Polish Republic, and East Prussia.

After the conference considered the Soviet recommendation, it agreed for the city of [[Königsberg]] and the area next to it to be transferred to the Soviet Union.

Truman and [[Winston Churchill]] guaranteed that they would support the proposals of the conference when peace was eventually ensured.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bevans|1968|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1232–1233]}}</ref>

=== Italy ===
The Soviet Union made a proposal to the conference concerning the mandated territories and conformed with what had been decided at the Yalta Conference and the [[Charter of the United Nations]].

After various opinions on the question had been discussed, the foreign prime ministers agreed that it was essential to decide at once the preparation of a peace treaty for [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]], combined with the disposition of any former Italian territories. In September, the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs would examine the question of the Italian territory.<ref name="Bevans page 1236">{{Harvnb|Bevans|1968|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1236]}}</ref>

=== Orderly transfers of German populations ===
{{See also|Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)}}
At the conference, the [[Allies of World War II#The Big Three|Allied leaders]] confirmed their previous commitment to the removal of German populations from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, which the provisional governments of those countries had already begun to put into effect. The three allied leaders agreed that transfers of German civilians should proceed in an orderly and humane manner, but according to modern estimates, between [[Demographic estimates of the flight and expulsion of Germans#Casualties|600,000 and 2.2 million Germans died]] during the flight and expulsions.<ref>Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin, Dienststelle 2005</ref><ref>Christoph Bergner, Secretary of State in [[Germany]]'s Bureau for Inner Affairs, outlines the stance of the respective governmental institutions in [[Deutschlandfunk]] on 29 November 2006, [http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/kulturheute/569560/]</ref><ref>Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005 ( Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The foreword to the book was written by German President [[Horst Köhler]] and the German interior minister [[Otto Schily]])</ref>

The leaders decided that the [[Allied Control Council]] in Germany would deal with the matter, giving priority to the equal distribution of Germans among the various zones of occupation. Representatives on the Control Council were to report to their governments and to each zonal administration the number of people who had already entered Germany from the eastern countries.<ref name="State Dept" /> The representatives would also form an estimate of the future pace of transfers and focus on the German occupied government's capacity to process new arrivals. The provisional governments of Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia were instructed to temporarily suspend expulsions of German civilians until their respective Control Council representatives had reported these results and estimates.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bevans|1968|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1236–1237]}}</ref>

=== Revised Allied Control Commission procedures in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary ===
The Big Three took notice that the Soviet representatives on the Allied Control Commissions in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary had communicated to their British and Americans colleagues proposals for refining the work of the Control Commission since the war in Europe had ended. The three leaders agreed on the revision of the procedures of the commissions in these countries and took into consideration the interests and responsibilities of their own governments, which together presented the terms of the armistice to the occupied countries.<ref name="State Dept" /><ref name="Bevans page 1236" />

=== Council of Foreign Ministers ===
The Conference agreed on the establishment of a Council of Foreign Ministers to represent the five principal powers, continue the essential preliminary work for the peace settlements, and assume other matters that could occasionally be committed to the council by agreement of the governments participating it. The establishment of the Council in question did not contradict the agreement of the Yalta Conference that there should be periodic meetings among the foreign secretaries of the three governments. According to the text of the agreement for the establishment of the council, this was decided:<ref name="State Dept" />

# A Council composed of the Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, China, France and the United States should be established.<ref name="State Dept" /><ref name="Bevans pages 1225–1226">{{Harvnb|Bevans|1968|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1225–1226]}}</ref>
# (I) The council should meet in London and form the Joint Secretariat. Each of the foreign ministers would be accompanied by a high-ranking deputy, properly authorized to continue the work of the Council in the absence of their foreign minister, and by a small staff of technical advisers. (II) The first meeting of the council should be held in London not later than 1 September 1945. Meetings could also be held by common agreement in other capitals.<ref name="State Dept" /><ref name="Bevans pages 1225–1226" />
# (I) The council should be authorized to write, with a view to their submission to the United Nations, treaties of peace with Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Finland, and to propose settlements of territorial issues pending the termination of the war in Europe. The council should also prepare a peace settlement for Germany to be accepted by the government of Germany when a government adequate for the purpose is established. (II) To accomplish the previous tasks, the council would be composed of the members representing those states which were signatories to the terms of surrender imposed upon the enemy state concerned.<ref name="Bevans pages 1225–1226" />
# (I) On any occasion the council would consider a question of direct interest to a state not represented, such state should be requested to send representatives to participate in the discussion of that question. (II) The council would be able to adapt its procedure to the particular problem under consideration. In some cases, it could hold its initial discussions before the participation of other interested states. Following the decision of the Conference, the Big Three have each addressed an invitation to the Governments of China and France, to adopt the text and to join in establishing the council.<ref name="State Dept" /><ref name="Bevans pages 1225–1226" />

=== Concluding peace treaties and facilitating membership in United Nations ===
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2022}}
The Conference agreed to apply common policies for determining, at the earliest opportunity, the terms of the peace.

In general, the Big Three desired that dispositions of Italy, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, and Romania should be resolved by the end of the negotiations. They believed that the other Allies would share their point of view.

As the disposition of [[Italy]] was one of the most important issues that required the attention of the new Council of Foreign Ministers, the three governments were especially concerned with concluding a peace treaty with Italy, especially as it had been the first of the Axis powers to break with [[Germany]] and to participate in Allied operations against Japan.

Italy was making significant progress in gaining its freedom and rejecting the previous fascist regime, and it had paved the way for the re-establishment of democratic governments. If Italy had a recognized and democratic government, it would be easier for the Americans, the British, and the Soviets to support the membership of Italy in the United Nations.

The Council of Foreign Ministers also had to examine and prepare the peace treaties for [[Bulgaria]], [[Finland]], [[Hungary]], and [[Romania]]. The conclusion of peace treaties with recognized and democratic governments in those four countries would allow the Big Three to accept their requests to be members of the United Nations. Moreover, after the termination of peace negotiations, the Big Three agreed to examine in the near future the restoration of the diplomatic relations with Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary. The Big Three were sure that the situation in Europe after the end of World War II would allow representatives of the Allied press to enjoy freedom of expression in the four countries.

Article 4 of the [[Charter of the United Nations]] read:

<blockquote>
1. Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving States who accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations;

2. The admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.
</blockquote>

The leaders declared that they were willing to support any request for membership from states that had remained neutral during the war and fulfilled the other requirements. The Big Three felt the need to clarify that they were reluctant to support application for such membership from the Spanish government, which had been established with the support of the Axis powers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bevans|1968|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lM8WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1224 1235–1236]}}</ref>

=== Potsdam Declaration ===
{{Main|Potsdam Declaration}}
[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-14059-0016, Potsdamer Konferenz, Molotow, Byrnes, Eden.jpg|thumb|The Foreign Ministers: [[Vyacheslav Molotov]], [[James F. Byrnes]], and [[Anthony Eden]], July 1945]]

In addition to the Potsdam Agreement, on 26 July, Churchill; Truman; and [[Chiang Kai-shek]], [[President of the Republic of China|Chairman]] of the [[Republic of China|Nationalist Government of China]] (the Soviet Union was not yet at war against Japan), issued the Potsdam Declaration, which outlined the terms of surrender for Japan during World War II in Asia.