Office of the Historian

Truman Papers

United States Delegation Memorandum1
[Babelsberg, July 24, 1945.]

Summary of the Views Expressed by the Polish Delegation to the Meeting of Foreign Ministers July 24, 1945, on the Subject of Poland’s Western Frontiers

The delegation considered that Poland’s western frontier should run from the Baltic through Swinemünde, including Stettin in Poland, along the Oder River to the Neisse, and along the Western Neisse to Czechoslovakia. The principal arguments they put forward were the following:

1.
Poland would lose 180,000 square kilometers in the east and should be compensated for this in the west.
2.
The territory under consideration was one unit from an economic point of view.
3.
Under the proposed arrangement Poland would acquire less than it had lost in the east. The whole area would be reduced from 388,000 square kilometers to 309,000 square kilometers. The population would be reduced from 34,000,000 to 26,000,000 but would then be homogenous [homogeneous?].
4.
There were about 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 Germans left in this area, but they would be willing to return home. This territory would enable Poland to support its population without recourse to emigration. This would enable Poland to enjoy the results of the labor of Poles who had formerly emigrated to work in this area.
5.
From the point of view of security, this was the shortest possible frontier between Poles and Germans and would be easy to defend.
6.
The Germans had attempted to destroy the Polish population and ruin Polish culture. It would be an expression of historical [Page 336] justice to create a powerful Polish state which could resist any German aggression.
7.
Poland had ceded territory in the east for the sake of peace and it would be right that Germany should cede territory for the same purpose.
8.
The proposed solution would deprive Germany of a “place d’armes” in the east.
9.
Poland would be a territory without national minorities.
10.
Before the war Poland had an excess of rural population which could not be absorbed in its urban centers. This territory was necessary to enable them to be employed and to enable the Poles forced abroad by the war to return to Poland and obtain employment.
11.
This area was one of the bases of German armaments and had resources in zinc and coal. This was one of the bases of German imperialism.
12.
Taking this area from Germany would deprive Germany of the other basis of its imperialism, namely, profits made as an intermediary between other countries. In 1937 Germany transported 2,300,000 tons of goods to Czechoslovakia, 400,000 tons to Hungary, 500,000 tons to Rumania, and 200,000 tons to Yugoslavia, in addition to that transported to Poland.
13.
The whole basin of the Oder River should go to Poland to enable Poland to have an economic base which would support its whole population and in order to prevent the possibility of cutting off the source of water supply to the Oder which lay in the Neisse area.
14.
Stettin should be in Polish hands because it was the natural outlet for Silesia.
15.
Germany which had lost the war would lose less than Poland. If Polish claims were satisfied, Poland would lose 20 percent of her territory whereas Germany would lose only 18 percent.
16.
A speedy decision and full agreement among the Powers was necessary because of the need to repatriate Poles from abroad in order that they could participate in the reconstruction of Poland.

  1. Authorship not indicated.↩