Editing Potsdam Conference (section)

=== 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>