The
Oder-Neisse line was drawn in the aftermath of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as the eastern border of
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,...
and the western border of
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The line is formed primarily by the
OderThe Oder is a river in Central Europe. It begins in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, later forming of the border between Poland and Germany, part of the Oder-Neisse line...
and
Lusatian NeisseThe Lusatian Neisse is a river in the Czech Republic and along the Polish-German border , in total 252 km long. It is a left tributary of the Oder River, into which it flows near Gubin...
rivers, and meets the
Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
west of the seaport cities of
SzczecinSzczecin - is the capital city of West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of the 2005 census the city had a total population of 420,638. In 2007 its population was 407,811.Szczecin is located on the...
(German:
Stettin) and
ŚwinoujścieŚwinoujście is a city and seaport on the Baltic Sea and Szczecin Lagoon, located in the extreme north-west of Poland. It is situated mainly on the islands of Usedom and Wolin, but also occupies smaller islands, of which the largest is Karsibór island, once part of Usedom, now separated by a Piast...
(
Swinemünde). All pre-war German territory east of the line (23.8% of the former
Weimar RepublicThe Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government, named after Weimar, the place where the constitutional assembly took place. Its official name was still Deutsches Reich , however...
lands, most of them from
PrussiaThe Free State of Prussia was a German state formed after the abolition of the Kingdom of Prussia in the aftermath of World War I. It was the major state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic, comprising almost five-eighths of its territory and population...
) was either awarded to Poland or 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...
after the war, and the vast majority of its native German population was
expelledBy the end of World War II, most of the German population fled or was expelled from areas outside the territory of post-war Germany and post-war Austria, including:...
by force. The line marked the border between the
German Democratic RepublicThe German Democratic Republic was a Communist state that originated from the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany and the Soviet sector of occupied Berlin...
and Poland from 1950 to 1990. As of 1990, it has formed the border between reunited Germany and the Republic of Poland.
Pre-war German-Polish border
Before
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Poland's western border with Germany had been fixed under the terms of the
Treaty of VersaillesThe Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
of 1919. It partially ran along the historic borders of
Greater PolandGreater Poland or Great Poland, Polish Wielkopolska is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief city is Poznań...
, but with certain adjustments that were intended to reasonably reflect the ethnic compositions of small areas beyond the traditional provincial borders. However,
PomereliaPomerelia is a historical region in northern Poland. Pomerelia was situated in eastern Pomerania on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, centered on the city of Gdańsk at the mouth of the Vistula...
and
Upper SilesiaUpper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Lower Silesia is to the northwest. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, Bohemia, Poland, Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Prussia, and later of unified German Reich...
had been divided, leaving areas populated by a rural Slavic population (often Germanized) on the German side and some German, primarily urban populations on the Polish side. Moreover, the border left Germany divided into two portions by the
Polish CorridorThe Polish Corridor was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia which provided the Second Republic of Poland with access to the Baltic Sea, thus dividing the bulk of Germany from her province of East Prussia...
and the independent
Free City of DanzigThe Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous, Baltic Sea port and city-state that was created on 10 January 1920, against the wishes of the local population but in accordance with the terms of Part III, Section XI of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919...
, which had a predominantly German
urbanAn urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
population, but was split from Germany to help secure Poland's access to the
Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
.
Tehran Conference
It was the Soviet leader Josef Stalin who had first insisted that Poland's western frontier be extended to the Oder River at the
Tehran ConferenceThe Tehran Conference was the meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill between November 28 and December 1, 1943, most of which was held at the Soviet Embassy in Tehran, Iran. It was the first World War II conference among the Big Three in which Stalin was present...
in late 1943. The Americans, however, were not interested in discussing any border changes at that time. British Foreign Secretary
Anthony EdenRobert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Foreign Secretary for three periods between 1935 and 1955, including during World War II...
wrote in his diary that "A difficulty is that the Americans are terrified of the subject which [Roosevelt advisor] Harry [Hopkins] called 'political dynamite' for their elections. But, as I told him, if we cannot get a solution, Polish-Russian relations six months from now, with Russian armies in Poland, will be infinitely worse and elections nearer."
Yalta Conference
At the
Yalta ConferenceThe Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D...
in 1945, the subject of Poland was again discussed. 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...
said that it would "make it easier for me at home" if Stalin were generous to Poland with respect to Poland's eastern frontiers.
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...
said a Soviet concession on that point would be admired as "a gesture of magnanimity" and declared that, with respect to Poland's post-war government, the British would "never be content with a solution which did not leave Poland a free and independent state." With respect to Poland's western frontiers, Stalin noted that the Polish Prime Minister in exile, Stanisław Mikołajczyk, had been pleased when Stalin had told him Poland would be granted Stettin (
SzczecinSzczecin - is the capital city of West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of the 2005 census the city had a total population of 420,638. In 2007 its population was 407,811.Szczecin is located on the...
) and the German territories east of the Western Neisse River. Churchill objected to the Western Neisse frontier saying that "it would be a pity to stuff the Polish goose so full of German food that it got indigestion." He added that many
BritishThe 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...
would be shocked if such large numbers of Germans (more than 11 million) were driven out of these areas, to which Stalin responded that "many Germans" had "already fled before the Red Army." Poland's western frontier was ultimately left to be decided at the
Potsdam ConferenceThe Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
.
Polish and Soviet demands
Originally, Germany was to retain
StettinSzczecin - is the capital city of West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of the 2005 census the city had a total population of 420,638. In 2007 its population was 407,811.Szczecin is located on the...
, while the Poles were to annex
East PrussiaEast Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia...
with Königsberg (now
KaliningradKaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
). The Polish government had in fact demanded this since the start of World War II in 1939, due to East Prussia's strategic position that allegedly undermined the defense of Poland. Other territorial changes proposed by the Polish government were the transfer of the Silesian region of
OppelnOpole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 129,553 and is the capital of the Opole Voivodeship, and also the seat of Opole County. It is the historical capital of Upper Silesia...
(Opole) and the Pomeranian regions of
DanzigGdańsk, also known by its German name Danzig , is a city on the Baltic coast in northern Poland, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area....
(Gdańsk),
BütowBytów is a town in the Middle Pomerania region of northern Poland in the Bytów Lakeland with 16,888 inhabitants . Previously in Słupsk Voivodeship , it is the capital of Bytów County in Pomeranian Voivodeship .-History:...
(Bytów) and
LauenburgLębork is a town on the Łeba and Okalica rivers in Middle Pomerania region, north-western Poland with some 37,000 inhabitants.Lębork is also the capital of Lębork County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, formerly in Słupsk Voivodeship ....
(Lębork), and straightening of the border somewhat in Western Pomerania.
However, Stalin decided that he wanted Königsberg as a year-round warm water port for the Soviet Navy, and he argued that the Poles should receive Stettin (Szczecin) instead. The pre-war Polish government-in-exile had little to say in these decisions, but insisted on retaining the historic Polish city of Lwów (now L'viv) in
GaliciaGalicia is a historical region in East-Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, named after the Ukraіniаn city of Halych. The nucleus of historic Galicia is formed of three regions of western Ukraine: Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk.-Tribal area:The region has a turbulent...
, eastern Poland. Stalin refused to concede, and instead proposed all of
Lower SilesiaLower Silesia ; is the northwestern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Upper Silesia is to the southeast. Throughout its history Lower Silesia has been under the control of medieval Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia, and Germany. After 1945 the main part of the former...
with Breslau (now Wrocław) be given to Poland. Many Poles from Lwów later would be moved to populate Wrocław (Formerly Breslau).
The eventual border was not the most far-reaching territorial change that was proposed. There were suggestions of including areas further west so that Poland could include the small minority population of ethnic Slavic
SorbsSorbs also known as Wends, Lusatian Sorbs or Lusatian Serbs, are a Slavic people settled in Lusatia, a region on the territory of Germany and Poland.Sorbs are divided into two groups:...
who lived near
CottbusCottbus is a city in Brandenburg, Germany, situated around 125 km southeast of Berlin on the River Spree. In 31 December, 2005, its population was 106,415.- History :...
and
BautzenBautzen ; is a city in eastern Saxony, Germany, and administrative center of the eponymous district. It is located on the Spree River. As of 2005, its population is 42,189...
. Ironically, those Sorbs who lived in the areas annexed by Poland would in fact be expelled as "Germans".
The precise location of the western border was left open. The western Allies accepted in general that the Oder River would be the future western border of Poland. Still in doubt was whether the border should follow the eastern or western Neisse River, and whether Stettin (now Szczecin), the traditional seaport of Berlin and a city with an exclusively German population, should remain German or be placed in Poland (with an expulsion of the German population). The western Allies sought to place the border on the eastern Neisse at Breslau, but Stalin refused to budge. Suggestions of a border on the
BóbrBóbr is a river which runs through the north of the Czech Republic and the southwest of Poland, a tributary of the Oder River, with a length of and the basin area of .-Towns:*Lubawka*Kamienna Góra*Jelenia Góra*Wleń*Lwówek...
(Bober) river were also rejected by the Soviets.
Nikita KhrushchevNikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
in his memoirs said:
"I had only one desire - that Poland's borders were moved as far west as possible."
Potsdam Conference
At Potsdam, Stalin argued for the Oder-Neisse line on the grounds that the Polish Government demanded this frontier and that there were no longer any Germans left east of this line, a claim that prompted Admiral
William D. LeahyFleet Admiral William Daniel Leahy was an American naval officer, Governor of Puerto Rico and Ambassador to France....
, American President
TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice-president and the 34th Vice President of the United States, he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
's Chief of Staff, to whisper "The Bolshies have killed them all", into President Truman's ear. Later the Russians admitted that at least "a million Germans" (still far lower than the true number) still remained in the area at that time. Several Polish leaders appeared at the conference to advance arguments for an Oder–Western Neisse frontier. The port of Stettin was demanded for Eastern European exports. If Stettin was Polish, then "in view of the fact that the supply of water is found between the Oder and the Lausitzer Neisse, if the Oder's tributaries were controlled by someone else the river could be blocked." Soviet forces had initially expelled Polish administrators who tried to seize control of Stettin in May and June, and the city was governed by a German communist-appointed mayor, under the surveillance of the Soviet occupiers, until 5 July 1945.
President
Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice-president and the 34th Vice President of the United States, he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
and British Prime Minister
Clement AttleeClement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
said that they could not tolerate Polish administration of part of one of the occupation zones (effectively making Poland a fifth occupying power after the U.S., Britain, France, and the Soviet Union) and the expulsion of millions of German people from it into other areas. Stalin responded that the Poles "were taking revenge for the injuries which the Germans had caused them in the course of centuries."
James ByrnesJames Francis Byrnes was an American statesman from the state of South Carolina. During his career, Byrnes served as a member of the House of Representatives , as a Senator , as Justice of the Supreme Court , as Secretary of State , and as Governor of South Carolina...
– who had become the American Secretary of State earlier that month – later advised the Soviets that the U.S. was prepared to concede the area east of the Oder River and the Eastern Neisse (Nysa Kłodzka) River to Polish administration, and for it not to consider it part of the Soviet occupation zone, in return for a moderation of Soviet demands for reparations from the Western occupation zones. A Nysa Kłodzka boundary would have left Germany with roughly half of
SilesiaSilesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in present-day Poland, with parts in the Czech Republic and Germany....
. The Soviets insisted that the Poles would not accept this. The Polish representatives (and Stalin) were in fact willing to concede a line following the Oder-Bober-Queiss (
OdraOdra may refer to:* Oder, a river in Czech Republic, Poland and Germany* Odra , a computer once made in Poland* Name of several Polish football clubs, e.g. Odra Wodzisław* Odra , a river in Croatia* Odra , a river in Spain...
-
BóbrBóbr is a river which runs through the north of the Czech Republic and the southwest of Poland, a tributary of the Oder River, with a length of and the basin area of .-Towns:*Lubawka*Kamienna Góra*Jelenia Góra*Wleń*Lwówek...
-
KwisaThe Kwisa is a river in south-western Poland, a left tributary of the Bóbr , which is itself a left tributary of the Odra . From the mid-13th century onwards the Kwisa marked the border between the regions of Lower Silesia and Upper Lusatia...
) rivers through
ŻagańIn demonology, Zagan is a Great King and President of Hell, commanding over thirty-three legions of demons. He makes men witty; he can also turn wine into water, water into wine, and blood into wine...
(Sagan) and
LubańLubań is a town in southwest Poland , with 22,137 inhabitants . It lies in Lower Silesian Voivodeship...
(Lauban), but even this small concession ultimately proved unnecessary, since on the next day, Byrnes told the Soviet Foreign Minister
Vyacheslav MolotovVyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
that the Americans would reluctantly concede to the Western Neisse. Byrnes's concession undermined the British position, and although the British Foreign Secretary
Ernest BevinErnest Bevin was a British labour leader, politician, and statesman best known for his time as Minister of Labour in the war-time coalition government, and as Foreign Secretary in the post-war Labour government.-Early life:...
raised objections, the British eventually agreed to the American concession. In response to American and British statements that the Poles were claiming far too much German territory, Stanisław Mikołajczyk argued that "the western lands were needed as a reservoir to absorb the Polish population east of the Curzon line, Poles who returned from the West, and Polish people who lived in the overcrowded central districts of Poland."
The U.S. and the U.K. were also negative towards the idea of giving Poland an occupation zone in Germany. However on July 29, President Truman handed Molotov a proposal for a temporary solution whereby the U.S. accepted Polish administration of land to the Oder and eastern Neisse until a final peace conference determined the boundary. In return for this large concession, the U.S. demanded that "each of the occupation powers take its share of reparations from its own [Occupation] Zone and provide for admission of Italy into the United Nations." The Soviets stated that they were not pleased "because it denied Polish administration of the area between the two Neisse rivers."
However, on the 29th Stalin asked Bierut to accept, considering the large American concesions. The Polish delegation decided to accept a boundary of the administration zone at "somewhere between the western Neisse and the Queiss (
KwisaThe Kwisa is a river in south-western Poland, a left tributary of the Bóbr , which is itself a left tributary of the Odra . From the mid-13th century onwards the Kwisa marked the border between the regions of Lower Silesia and Upper Lusatia...
)." Later that day the Poles changed their mind; "Bierut, accompanied by Rola-Zymierski, returned to Stalin and argued against any compromise with the Americans. Stalin told his Polish proteges that he would defend their position at the conference."
Finally, the Potsdam Conference of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, in anticipation of the final
peace treatyA peace treaty is an agreement between two hostile parties, usually countries or governments, that formally ends an armed conflict. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to cease hostilities, or a surrender, in which an army agrees to give up arms.-Elements of treaties:There are...
, placed the German territories east of the Oder-Neisse line formally under Polish administrative control. It was also decided that all Germans remaining in the new and old Polish territory should be expelled.
Polish propagandaCommunist propaganda played an important role in the People's Republic of Poland , one of the largest and most important communist satellite states of the Soviet Union. Together with the use of force and terror it was instrumental in keeping the communist government in power and was designed to...
came to refer to those territories as the Regained or
Recovered TerritoriesRecovered or Regained Territories was the official term used by the Communist Polish post-war authorities to denote those territories which were assigned by the Big Three allies to Poland and incorporated into Poland after the Second World War...
, a term alluding to their having been in the possession of the early medieval Piast dynasty of Polish kings or included in the parts lost to Germany during the
Partitions of PolandThe Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The partitions were carried out by Prussia, Russia and Habsburg Austria dividing up the Commonwealth lands...
. The creation of a picture of the new territories as an "integral part of historical Poland" in the post-war had the aim of forging Polish settlers and repatriates arriving there into a coherent community loyal to the new Communist Regime. The term was in use immediately following the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when it was part of the Communist indoctrination of the Polish settlers in those territories. The final agreements in effect compensated Poland with 112,000 km² of former German territories for 187,000 square kilometers of land located east of the
Curzon lineThe Curzon Line was a demarcation line between the Second Polish Republic and Bolshevik Russia, first proposed on December 8, 1919 at the Allied Supreme Council declaration. The line was authored by British Foreign Secretary, George Curzon, 1st Earl Curzon of Kedleston...
– Polish areas occupied by the Soviet Union. Poles and Polish Jews from Soviet Union were subject of process called "repatriation" (return to Poland that moved westward), but many of them who were imprisoned or deported to work camps in Siberia or Kazakhstan were frequently excluded.
One reason for this version of the new border was the fact that it was the shortest possible border between Poland and Germany. It is only 472 kilometers in length, stretching from the northernmost point of the
Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...
to one of the southernmost points of the
Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
in the Oder River estuary. The rights of the inhabitants of the formerly German territories were disregarded by the victorious powers, who left to the Communist regime installed by Soviets in Poland execution of the expulsion and to the occupying powers accommodation of the deportees in occupation zones of Germany. Many German citizens who were Slavic
autochthonAutochthon , or the anglicized adjective autochthonous or abstract noun autochthony may refer to:* The indigenous peoples of a place...
s in those lands, namely: Slovincians,
KashubiansKashubians/Kaszubians , also called Kashubs, Kaszubians, Kassubians or Cassubians, are a West Slavic ethnic group in Pomerelia, north-central Poland. Their settlement area is referred to as Kashubia ....
, and
Upper SilesiaUpper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Lower Silesia is to the northwest. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, Bohemia, Poland, Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Prussia, and later of unified German Reich...
ns and also those Slavs who were descendents of immigrants from Poland to Prussia and
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
(Masurians), - altogether 1.5 million people though theoretically should be excepted from expulsion and declared as authochnoms, sometimes were forcibly (just after the war) or willingly (starting from 1950s) included in the expulsion, because they either were considered German by the new Polish administrators or decided to leave Poland due to the lack of democracy and economical problems of this state.
World War II aftermath
Winston Churchill was not present at the end of the Conference, since the results of the
British electionsThe United Kingdom General Election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks...
had made it clear that he had been defeated. Churchill later claimed that he would never have agreed to the Oder–Western Neisse line, and in his famous
Iron CurtainThe concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991...
speech declared that "The Russian-dominated Polish Government has been encouraged to make enormous and wrongful inroads upon Germany, and mass expulsions of millions of Germans on a scale grievous and undreamed-of are now taking place."
Not only the German territorial changes of Nazis were reverted, but the border was moved westward deep into territory which had been in 1937 part of Germany and populated by then by German population - now mostly absent, to a line which placed almost all of
SilesiaSilesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in present-day Poland, with parts in the Czech Republic and Germany....
, more than half of
PomeraniaPomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East. It is inhabited...
, the eastern portion of
BrandenburgBrandenburg is one of the sixteen states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, a small area of
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
on the west and the former
Free City of DanzigThe Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous, Baltic Sea port and city-state that was created on 10 January 1920, against the wishes of the local population but in accordance with the terms of Part III, Section XI of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919...
and the southern two-thirds of
East PrussiaEast Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia...
(
MasuriaMasuria is an area in northeastern Poland famous today for its 2000 lakes.In the 11th-13th century, the territory was inhabited by the Old Prussians, also called Baltic Prussians, an Baltic ethnic group that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern coastal region of the Baltic Sea, in the...
and
WarmiaWarmia or Ermland is a region between Pomerania and Masuria in northeastern Poland. Together with Masuria, it forms the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship....
) in the east within Poland (see Former eastern territories of Germany). (The northeastern third of East Prussia was directly annexed by 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...
, with the Memelland becoming part of the
Lithuanian SSRThe Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union. It was established after the Soviet Annexation of Lithuania in 1940 and existed until 1990...
and the bulk of the territory forming the new
Kaliningrad OblastKaliningrad Oblast , informally called Yantarny kray is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. Population: 968,200 ; ....
of the
Russian SFSRThe Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , also called the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the Russian SFSR and the RSFSR for short, was the largest and most populous of the fifteen Soviet republics of the Soviet Union and became the Russian...
.)
The territorial changes were followed by large-scale population transfers, involving 14 million people, including population shift during the war. Ethnic cleansing carried out by the Polish government and military, which resulted in the
expulsion of nearly all remaining Germans from the territory annexed by PolandThe flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland was the largest of a series of flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II...
and the Soviets, and the return to Poland of the Polish displaced persons then inside Allied-occupied Germany. In addition to this, the Polish population originated from the eastern half of the former
Second Polish RepublicThe Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; from the creation of an independent Polish state in the aftermath of World War I, to the invasion of Poland in 1939 by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic,...
, now annexed by the Soviet Union, was mostly
expelled and transferredRepatriation of Poles can refer to:*Repatriation of Poles *Repatriation of Poles...
to the newly acquired territories.
The removal of German citizens from the
annexed territoriesRecovered or Regained Territories was the official term used by the Communist Polish post-war authorities to denote those territories which were assigned by the Big Three allies to Poland and incorporated into Poland after the Second World War...
was executed in the directly post-war atmosphere of violence and brutality, including gang-
rapeRape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or without sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....
, child-abuse, theft,
tortureTorture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is:In addition to state-sponsored torture, individuals or groups may be motivated to inflict torture on others for similar reasons to those of a state; however, the motive for torture can also be for the sadistic gratification of...
, terror, and murders. Of the 14 million ethnic Germans deported, only 12 million arrived in the four Occupation Zones of Germany. About two million went missing in the wake of the ethnic cleansing.
Few Poles have opposed the territorial gains from Germany and the expulsion of the German inhabitants. These developments have been presented as a just consequence for the Nazi German state's starting the war and conducting genocide, as well as for the territorial losses of eastern Poland to the Soviet Union, mainly
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
, which Poland had gained in the Polish-Russian war earlier in the 20th century. With respect to the expelled ethnic German minority in Poland, resentment has been based on their majority's loyalty to the German Reich during the invasion and occupation, and the active role played by some in the persecution and
mass murderMass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people, typically over a relatively short period of time. Mass murder may be committed by individuals or organizations. Mass murder is also defined to be intentional and indiscriminate murder of large number of people by government agents...
of Poles and
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s. These circumstances have impeded sensitivity among Poles with respect to the expulsion committed during the aftermath of World War II.
The new order was in Stalin's interests, because it enabled 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...
Communists to present themself as the primary maintainer of Poland's new western border. It also provided Soviet Union with territorial gains from part of East Prussia and eastern part of Second Republic of Poland.
Recognition of the border by Germany
The East German
Socialist Unity PartyThe Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a Communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
(SED), founded 1946, originally rejected the Oder-Neisse line. Under Soviet occupation and heavy pressure by Moscow, the official phrase
Friedensgrenze (border of peace) was promulgated in March–April 1947 at the Moscow Foreign Ministers Conference. The
German Democratic RepublicThe German Democratic Republic was a Communist state that originated from the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany and the Soviet sector of occupied Berlin...
and Poland's Communist government, signed the
Treaty of ZgorzelecThe Treaty of Zgorzelec was signed on 6 July 1950 in the east of the Oder- Neisse line part of the divided city of Görlitz, since 1945 called in Polish Zgorzelec...
in 1950, recognizing the Oder-Neisse line, officially designated by the Communists as the "Border of Peace and Friendship".
Decades later, in 1989, another treaty was signed between Poland and East Germany, the sea border was defined, and a dispute from 1985 was settled.
In 1952, recognition of the Oder-Neisse line as a permanent boundary was one of Stalin's conditions for the Soviet Union to agree to a reunification of Germany (see
Stalin NoteThe Stalin Note, also known as the March Note, was a document delivered to the representatives of the Western allied powers from the Soviet Occupation in Germany on March 10, 1952...
). The offer was rejected by the West German Chancellor
Konrad AdenauerKonrad Hermann Josef Adenauer , 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman.Although his political career spanned sixty years, beginning as early as 1906, he is most noted for his role as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949–1963 and chairman of the...
.
In
West GermanyWest Germany is a common English name for the period of the Federal Republic of Germany between its' formation in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic was dissolved and the five states on its territory joined the Federal Republic of Germany,...
, where the majority of the 12 million displaced refugees found refuge, recognition of the Oder-Neisse Line as permanent was long regarded as unacceptable. In fact, under the
Hallstein DoctrineThe Hallstein Doctrine, named after Walter Hallstein, was a key doctrine in the foreign policy of the Federal Republic of Germany after 1955. It established that the Federal Republic would not establish or maintain diplomatic relations with any state that recognized the German Democratic Republic...
, West Germany recognized neither the government of Communist Poland, nor the
German Democratic RepublicThe German Democratic Republic was a Communist state that originated from the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany and the Soviet sector of occupied Berlin...
(East Germany).
In 1963 the German opposition leader
Willy BrandtWilly Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
said that "abnegation is betrayal". But it was Brandt who eventually changed West Germany's attitude with his policy of
OstpolitikOstpolitik is a term for the "Change Through Rapprochement" policy — as verbalized by Egon Bahr in 1963 — the efforts of Willy Brandt, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany , to normalise his country's relations with Eastern European nations .The proper term is in...
. In 1970 West Germany signed treaties with the Soviet Union (
Treaty of MoscowThe Treaty of Moscow, was signed on August 12 1970 between the USSR and West Germany . It was signed by Willy Brandt and Walter Scheel from the FRG side and by Aleksei Kosygin and Andrei Gromyko from the USSR side.-Description:...
) and Poland (
Treaty of WarsawThe Treaty of Warsaw was a treaty between West Germany and the People's Republic of Poland. It was signed on 7 December 1970, and it was ratified by the German Bundestag on 17 May 1972....
) recognizing the Oder-Neisse line between Germany and Poland as current reality, not to be changed by force. This had the effect of making family visits by the displaced eastern Germans to their lost homelands now more or less possible. Such visits were still very difficult, however, and permanent resettlement in the homeland, now Poland, remained impossible.
In November 1990, after
German reunificationGerman reunification is the process in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and Berlin was united into a single city-state. The start of this process is commonly referred to by former citizens of the GDR as die Wende...
, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland signed a treaty confirming the border between them, as requested by the
Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to GermanyThe Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany was negotiated in 1990 between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic , and the Four Powers which occupied Germany at the end of World War II in Europe: France, the United Kingdom, the United States of...
. Earlier, Germany had amended its constitution and abolished Article 23 of West Germany's Basic Law (on which reunification was based), which could have been used to claim the former German eastern territories.
The 1990 German-Polish Border Treaty finalizing the Oder-Neisse line as the Polish-German border came into force on January 16, 1992, together with a second one, a
Treaty of Good NeighbourshipThe Polish–German Treaty of Good Neighbourship and Friendly Cooperation was signed between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland on 17 June 1991...
, signed in June 1991, in which the two countries, among other things, recognized basic political and cultural rights for both the German and the Polish minorities living on either side of the border. After 1990, approximately 150,000 people registered as Germans still reside in the areas transferred to Poland, mainly in the
OpoleOpole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 129,553 and is the capital of the Opole Voivodeship, and also the seat of Opole County. It is the historical capital of Upper Silesia...
(Oppeln) Voivodeship, with a smaller presence in regions such as
Lower SilesiaLower Silesia ; is the northwestern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Upper Silesia is to the southeast. Throughout its history Lower Silesia has been under the control of medieval Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia, and Germany. After 1945 the main part of the former...
and Warmia-Masuria. There are one and a half million Poles or ethnic Poles living in Germany, including both recent immigrants and the descendants of Poles that settled in Germany many generations ago.
See also
- Curzon Line
The Curzon Line was a demarcation line between the Second Polish Republic and Bolshevik Russia, first proposed on December 8, 1919 at the Allied Supreme Council declaration. The line was authored by British Foreign Secretary, George Curzon, 1st Earl Curzon of Kedleston...
- Expulsion of Germans after World War II
By the end of World War II, most of the German population fled or was expelled from areas outside the territory of post-war Germany and post-war Austria, including:...
- Federation of Expellees
The Federation of Expellees or Bund der Vertriebenen is a non-profit organization formed to represent the interests of Germans who either fled their homes in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, or were expelled following World War II....
- Allied Occupation Zones in Germany
The Allied powers who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II divided the country west of the Oder-Neisse line into four occupation zones for administrative purposes during the period 1945–1949. In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, American forces had pushed beyond the previously agreed...
World War II-related events
- Vistula-Oder Offensive
The Vistula-Oder Offensive was a successful Red Army operation on the Eastern Front in the European Theatre of World War II; it took place between 12 January, 1945 and 2 February, 1945...
, from January 12 until February 2, 1945
- Malta Conference
The Malta Conference was held from January 30 to February 3, 1945 between President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom on the island of Malta. The purpose of the conference was to plan the final campaign against the Germans with the...
, from January 30 to February 3, 1945
- Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D...
, from February 4 to February 11, 1945
- Battle of Königsberg
The Battle of Königsberg , was one of the last operations of the East Prussian Offensive during World War II. In four days of violent urban warfare, Soviet forces of the 3rd Belorussian Front captured the city of Königsberg . The siege started in late January 1945 when the Soviets initially...
, from April 6 until April 9, 1945
- Battle of the Oder-Neisse
The Battle of the Oder-Neisse is the German name for the initial phase of one of the last two strategic offensives conducted by the Red Army in the Campaign in Central Europe during World War II. Its initial breakthrough phase was fought over four days, from April 16 until April 19, 1945, within...
, from April 16 until April 19, 1945
- Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
, from July 17 to August 2, 1945
Further reading
- An East German pamphlet for propagandists entitled "Why is the Oder-Neiße Line a Peace Border?"
- Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland on the confirmation of the frontier between them, 14 November 1990(PDF) (Treaty confirming the border between Germany and Poland (Warsaw, November 14, 1990) in Polish
Polish is a West Slavic language and the official language of Poland. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet which corresponds basically to the Latin alphabet with a few additions...
and GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
)
- The Oder Neisse Line Problem (German) (PDF)
- Closing The Ring Winston Churchill
Sir 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...
; Excerpt on the Teheran conference, from his memoirs.
- Speaking Frankly James F. Byrnes
James Francis Byrnes was an American statesman from the state of South Carolina. During his career, Byrnes served as a member of the House of Representatives , as a Senator , as Justice of the Supreme Court , as Secretary of State , and as Governor of South Carolina...
; Excerpt on the Yalta conferenceThe Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D...
, from his memoirs.
- Triumph and Tragedy Winston Churchill
Sir 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...
; Excerpt on the Yalta conferenceThe Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D...
, from his memoirs.
- Churchill's statement to the House of Commons 27, February, 1945, Describing the outcome of Yalta
- Statistics Of Poland's Democide Democide
Democide is a term coined by political scientist R. J. Rummel for "the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder." Rummel created the term as an extended concept to include forms of government murder that are not covered by the legal definition...
Addenda By R.J. Rummel
- The German-Polish Border Region. A Case of Regional Integration? ARENA Working Papers WP 97/19 Jorunn Sem Fure Department of History, University of Bergen
- Minority Rights Abuse in Communist Poland and Inherited Issues
- "Dismember or Dismantle", Time Magazine February 21, 1944