Editing Yalta Conference (section)

===Key points===
{{Territorial evolution of Germany}}
{{Territorial evolution of Poland}}

The key points of the meeting were as follows:

* Agreement to the priority of the [[unconditional surrender]] of [[Nazi Germany]]. After the war, Germany and Berlin would be split into four occupied zones.
* Stalin agreed that France would have a [[French occupation zone in Germany|fourth occupation zone]] in Germany if it was formed from the American and the British zones.
* Germany would undergo [[Demilitarisation|demilitarization]] and [[denazification]]. At the Yalta Conference, the Allies decided to provide safeguards against a potential military revival of Germany, to eradicate German militarism and the [[Oberkommando der Wehrmacht|Nazi general staff]], to bring about the [[denazification]] of Germany, to punish the war criminals and to disarm and demilitarise Germany.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lewkowicz|first=Nicolas|title=The German Question and the Origins of the Cold War|publisher=IPOC|year=2008|isbn=978-88-95145-27-3|location=Milan|pages=73}}</ref>
* German [[war reparations]] were partly to be in the form of [[forced labor]]. The forced labour was to be used to repair damage that Germany had inflicted on its victims.<ref>Pavel Polian. ''Against Their Will: The History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR''. Central European University Press 2003   {{ISBN|963-9241-68-7}} pp. 244–49</ref> However, laborers were also forced to harvest crops, mine uranium, and do other work (see also ''[[Forced labor of Germans after World War II]]'' and ''[[Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union]]'').
* Creation of a reparation council which would be located in the Soviet Union.
* The status of Poland was discussed. The recognition of the communist [[Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland]], which had been installed by the Soviet Union "on a broader democratic basis", was agreed to.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements: T to Z|last = Osmańczyk|first = Edmund|year = 2003|isbn = 978-0-415-93924-9|page = 2773| publisher=Taylor & Francis }}</ref>
* The Polish eastern border would follow the [[Curzon Line]], and Poland would receive territorial compensation in the west from Germany.
* Stalin pledged to permit free elections in Poland.
* Roosevelt obtained a commitment by Stalin to participate in the [[United Nations]].
* Stalin requested that all of the 16 [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet Socialist Republics]] would be granted [[Member states of the United Nations|UN membership]]. That was taken into consideration, but 14 republics were denied; Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to membership for [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukraine]] and [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussia]]. While Roosevelt requested additional votes, with Churchill agreeing in principle and Stalin suggesting two addition votes so as to be equal to the Soviet Union, the United States ultimately did not request more than one vote.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historical Documents - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945Malta/ch10subch1 |access-date=2024-05-19 |website=[[United States Department of State]]}}</ref>
* Stalin agreed to enter the fight against the [[Empire of Japan]] "in two or three months after Germany has surrendered and the war in Europe is terminated". As a result, the Soviets would take possession of Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, the port of [[Dalian]] would be internationalized, and the Soviet lease of Port Arthur would be restored, among other concessions.<ref>"Agreement Regarding Japan," Protocol Proceedings of the Crimea Conference (February 11, 1945). [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/yalta.asp Online].</ref>
* For the [[Air raids on Japan|bombing of Japan]], agreement was reached on basing [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Force]] [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress|B-29s]] near the mouth of the [[Amur River]] in the [[Komsomolsk-on-Amur|Komsomolsk]]-[[Nikolayevsk-on-Amur|Nikolaevsk]] area (not near [[Vladivostok]], as had earlier been proposed), but that did not eventuate. General [[Aleksei Antonov]] also said that the Red Army would take the southern half of [[Sakhalin Island]] as one of its first objectives and that American assistance to defend [[Kamchatka]] would be desirable.{{sfn|Ehrman|1956|p=216}}
* [[German war crimes|Nazi war criminals]] were to be found and put on trial in the territories in which their crimes had been committed. Nazi leaders were to be executed.
* A "Committee on Dismemberment of Germany" was to be set up. Its purpose was to decide whether Germany was to be divided into several nations. Some examples of partition plans are shown below:

<gallery widths="220px" heights="200px">
File:Map-Germany-1945.svg | The eventual partition of Germany into [[Allied-occupied Germany|Allied Occupation Zones]]:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://neverwasmag.com/2018/11/how-germany-was-divided-a-history-of-partition-plans/|title=How Germany Was Divided: A History of Partition Plans|first=Nick|last=Ottens|date=November 18, 2018}}</ref> {{legend|#69AB69|British zone}} {{legend|#2464D8|French zone (two [[Enclave and exclave|exclave]]s) and beginning in 1947, the [[Saar Protectorate]]}} {{legend|#FCA93E|American zone, including [[Bremen]]}} {{legend|#FF5555|Soviet zone, later the [[East Germany|GDR]]}}  {{legend|#FFFFCF|[[Oder–Neisse line|Polish and Soviet annexed territory]]}}
File:Duitslandchurchill_eng.png | Partition plan from Winston Churchill: {{legend|#C9A091|North German state}} {{legend|#9195C9|South German state, including modern Austria and Hungary}} {{legend|#92C991|West German state}}
File:Morgenthau Plan map.svg | [[Morgenthau Plan]]: {{legend|#FF6464|North German state}} {{legend|#6464FF|South German state}} {{legend|#64ff64|[[International zone]]}} {{legend|#C8C8C8|Territory lost from Germany (Saarland to [[French Fourth Republic|France]], [[Upper Silesia]] to [[People's Republic of Poland|Poland]], [[East Prussia]], partitioned between Poland and the [[Soviet Union]])}}
</gallery>