In 1914 and 1941 large German armies advanced from the west and almost destroyed Russia. After World War II, Poland was moved 250 kilometers (150 miles) to the west. The territory lost to the USSR on the east (178,220 sq. km--70,000 sq. miles) greatly exceeded the territory acquired from Germany (101,200 sq. km--40,000 sq. miles) as compensation. The Soviets compensated the Poles for the east Polish territories that she annexed by establishing the Polish western borders on the Oder-Neisse Line, thereby giving Poland territory that was German prior to World War II. Poland was bordered to the east and west by two nations that had traditionally been her enemies; paradoxically, both the USSR and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) were her allies at the end of World War II.
At the meeting of the "Big Three" (US/UK/USSR) in February 1945 at Yalta, Poland and how to settle its frontiers, was a topic of discussion at most of the eight plenary sessions. Stalin and Molotov paved the way for a Polish state oriented toward Russia, and one whose western borders reached to the lines of the Oder and western Neisse Rivers. By the early spring of 1945 the Soviets had overrun most of Poland, pushed into Hungary and eastern Czechoslovakia, and temporarily halted at the Oder-Neisse line. By the end of March 1945, Soviet forces held a bridgehead over the Oder River, a mere 30 miles from Berlin.
The Potsdam Conference in in July and August 1945 was the last of the wartime "Big Three" conferences. The political discussion centered on German occupation policy, Soviet involvement in the Pacific Theater, and the establishment of a German-Polish boundary. At Potsdam, the U.S. accepted the "provisional" Polish administration of former German territory up to the Oder-Neisse line. Pending a final peace treaty, the territory was to be "administered" by the Polish Government.
Another attempt to reach four-power agreement on policy regarding the future of Germany was made at a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Moscow in March 1947. Here the United States and the United Kingdom advocated a federal form of government for Germany, while the Soviet Union demanded a strongly centralized state. On area of disagreement was over the temporary German-Polish border. The United States held that the perpetuation of the Oder-Neisse line would deprive Germany of land that in prewar times had provided more than one-fifth of the nation's food supply. Hamburg was greatly affected by the division of Germany. Though the "Oder-Neisse Line" lay about 30 miles east of Hamburg, it effectively cut off Hamburg's commerce on the Elbe River. The greatness of the port was diminished, and Hamburg felt it. The Soviet Union, however, insisted that the line should be made permanent.
Read Full Article »
