The
Moscow Declaration was signed during the
Moscow ConferenceThe Third Moscow Conference between the major Allies of World War II took place from October 18 to November 11 1943, at the Moscow Kremlin and Spiridonovka Palace....
on October 30 1943. The formal name of the declaration was "
Declaration of the Four Nations on General Security". It was signed by the foreign secretaries of the Governments of the United States of America, the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. The Declaration has four separate parts.
In the section
Joint Four-Nation Declaration, the governments of the United States of America, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, in accordance with the declaration by the United Nations of January, 1942, and subsequent declarations, to continue hostilities against those
Axis powersThe Axis powers comprised the countries that were opposed to the Allies during World War II. The three major Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers...
with which they respectively are at war until such powers have laid down their arms on the basis of
unconditional surrenderUnconditional surrender is a surrender without conditions, in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party except for those provided by international law. Announcing that only unconditional surrender is acceptable puts psychological pressure on a weaker adversary...
.
The
Moscow Declaration was signed during the
Moscow ConferenceThe Third Moscow Conference between the major Allies of World War II took place from October 18 to November 11 1943, at the Moscow Kremlin and Spiridonovka Palace....
on October 30 1943. The formal name of the declaration was "
Declaration of the Four Nations on General Security". It was signed by the foreign secretaries of the Governments of the United States of America, the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. The Declaration has four separate parts.
Joint Four-Nation Declaration
In the section
Joint Four-Nation Declaration, the governments of the United States of America, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, in accordance with the declaration by the United Nations of January, 1942, and subsequent declarations, to continue hostilities against those
Axis powersThe Axis powers comprised the countries that were opposed to the Allies during World War II. The three major Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers...
with which they respectively are at war until such powers have laid down their arms on the basis of
unconditional surrenderUnconditional surrender is a surrender without conditions, in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party except for those provided by international law. Announcing that only unconditional surrender is acceptable puts psychological pressure on a weaker adversary...
. They also recognize the necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international organization (the United Nations), based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving states, and open to membership by all such states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security.
Declaration regarding Italy
In the section
Declaration regarding ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
the foreign secretaries of the US, UK and USSR declared that
fascismFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
and its influence should be completely destroyed and that the Italian people should be given every opportunity to establish governmental and other institutions based on democratic principles.
Declaration regarding Austria
In the section
Declaration regarding AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
the Foreign Secretaries of US, UK and USSR declared that the annexation (
AnschlussThe ' , also known as the ', was the 1938 de facto annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi regime....
) of Austria by
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
was null and void. It called for the establishment of a free Austria after the victory over
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
.
"The Governments of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States of America are agreed that Austria, the first free country to fall a victim to Hitlerite agression, shall be liberated from German domination.
They regard the annexation imposed upon Austria by German on March 15th, 1938, as null and void. They consider themselves as in no way bound by any changes effected in Austria since that date. They declare that they wish to see re-established a free and independent Austria, and thereby to open the way for the Austrian people themselves, as well as those neighbouring states which will be faced with similar problems, to find that political and economic security which is the only basis for lasting peace.
Austria is reminded, however, that she has responsibility which she cannot evade for participation in the war on the side of Hitlerite Germany, and that in the final settlement account will inevitably be taken of her own contribution to her liberation."
Statement on Atrocities
The final section of the Moscow Declaration is entitled
Statement on Atrocities and it was signed by the U.S. President
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , the only U.S. President elected to more than two terms, was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, British Prime Minister
Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer...
and Soviet Premier
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
. They noted that "
evidence of atrocities, massacres and cold-blooded mass executions which are being perpetrated by Hitlerite forces in many of the countries they have overrun and from which they are now being steadily expelled". They went on to state that Germans would be sent back to the countries where they had committed their crimes and "
judged on the spot by the peoples whom they have outraged". As for those Germans whose criminal offenses had no particular geographical localization, they would be punished by joint decision of the governments of the Allies.
The
Statement on Atrocities was largely drafted by Winston Churchill and led to the setting up of the
European Advisory CommissionThe formation of the European Advisory Commission was agreed on at the Moscow Conference on October 30 1943 between the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Anthony Eden, the United States, Cordell Hull, and the Soviet Union, Vyacheslav Molotov, and confirmed at the Tehran Conference in...
which drafted the London Charter.