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It was the future of Poland that became the most difficult topic of the negotiations in Yalta, which took place from February 4 to 11, 1945.

Stalin insisted that in the country liberated by the Red Army, power should pass to the pro-Soviet Polish Committee of National Liberation (“Lublin Committee”),

Churchill demanded recognition of the powers of the Polish government in exile, which had been based in London since 1939.

To Roosevelt, this dispute seemed of little significance; in private conversations, he called Poland “the eternal migraine of Europe.” On the Polish issue, he supported Stalin; the British had to give in and agree to the Soviet version of the post-war structure of the country.

The Soviet leader justified his tough position by the fact that it was strategically important for the USSR to have a friendly Poland, which from time immemorial served as a springboard for an attack on Russia from the west.

We reaffirmed our common desire to see the establishment of a strong, free, independent and democratic Poland, and as a result of our negotiations we agreed on the terms on which a new Provisional Polish Government of National Unity would be formed in such a way as to gain recognition from the three major powers.

The heads of the three Governments believe that the eastern border of Poland should run along the Curzon Line with deviations from it in some areas of five to eight kilometers in favor of Poland.

The heads of the three Governments recognize that Poland should receive a significant increase in territory in the north and west. They believe that on the question of the size of these increments the opinion of the new Polish Government of National Unity will be sought in due course and that, thereafter, the final determination of the western border of Poland will be postponed until the peace conference.

The Allies agreed to draw the eastern border of the country approximately along the “Curzon Line,” proposed by the British back in 1919, “with minor deviations from it in some areas in favor of Poland.” As a kind of compensation for the loss of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, Stalin proposed giving Poland the German territories east of the Oder and Neisse, as well as Silesia, Pomerania and a significant part of East Prussia. As Polish diplomat Jan Karski recalled many years later, “we received the Oder-Neisse border only by the grace of Stalin. He did not give in and insisted: the Poles are entitled to this... Churchill and Roosevelt protested: “It is simply absurd to give Poland a border on the Neisse!” Churchill shouted: “I am not going to feed this Polish goose, he will choke on these territories!” And Stalin repeated: “The Poles deserve this, they suffered, they fought.”

Molotov declares that the text of the Soviet proposals on the Polish question is ready and he would like to present it to the British and American delegations. The Soviet delegation makes the following proposal:

3. Recognize it desirable to replenish the Provisional Polish Government with some democratic figures from Polish emigre circles.

5. Recognize it desirable that the Provisional Polish Government, replenished in the manner indicated in paragraph 3, should, as soon as possible, call the population of Poland to general elections to organize permanent bodies of government in Poland.

6. Instruct V.M. Molotov, Mr. Harriman and Mr. Kerr to discuss the issue of replenishing the Provisional Polish Government together with representatives of the Provisional Polish Government and present their proposals for consideration by the three governments."

Roosevelt declares that the Soviet proposals represent some progress. He would like to be able to study them with Stettinius. For now, he can only note that in Soviet proposals he does not like the expression “emigrant Polish circles.” As Roosevelt said yesterday, he does not know any of the emigrants except Mikolajczyk. He further believes that it is not at all necessary to involve people from emigration in the Polish government. It will be possible to find suitable people and in Poland itself.

Stalin notes that this is, of course, correct.

Churchill says he shares Roosevelt's reservations about the word "emigrants." The fact is that this word was first used during the French Revolution, when it was a designation for people expelled from France by the French people. The Poles who are now abroad were not expelled by the Polish people, they were expelled by Hitler .

Churchill proposes replacing the word “emigrants” with the words “Poles abroad.”

Stalin agrees with Churchill's proposal.

Churchill, continuing, points out that the second paragraph of the proposals refers to p. Neisse. On the question of moving the Polish frontier to the west, the British Government would like to make the following reservation: Poland should have the right to take for itself such territory as it wishes and which it can govern. It would hardly be advisable for a Polish goose to be so stuffed with German delicacies that it would die of indigestion. In addition, there are circles in England who are frightened by the thought of eviction large quantity Germans. Churchill himself is not at all afraid of this prospect. The results of the resettlement of Greeks and Turks after the last world war were quite satisfactory.

Churchill suggests that in paragraph 3 Soviet project the words “and from Poland itself” were added.

Stalin replies that this is acceptable.

Churchill says that the Soviet proposals should be considered and then discussed at the next meeting. He believes these proposals are a step forward.

Poland intends to raise the issue of receiving war reparations from Germany to international platforms. This was announced last Sunday, September 24 Chairman of the ruling Law and Justice party(PiS) Jaroslaw Kaczynski. In an interview with the magazine Sieci Prawdy (Network of Truth), he stated:

“We have every chance of reparations; I see no legal grounds for refusal. Poland's arguments should be heard louder in Europe. I am satisfied with the rejection of the trend that forced us to recognize Poland as almost an ally of Germany ( This refers, first of all, to the participation of pre-war Poland in the division of Czechoslovakia. — S.D.). Even in Germany we have heard voices saying that they will not pay because they do not want or cannot pay, but the Polish arguments exist and matter. It is important that this matter becomes public. Therefore, it is necessary to act consistently, dividing all actions into stages. Now is the stage of the Sejm, which means it is not yet the stage of the official speech of the Polish state,” Kaczynski said, recalling that President Andrzej Duda I already raised this issue in a conversation with presidentGermany Frank-Walter Steinmeier. According to the Chairman of PiS, “the issue needs to be carefully prepared, it is necessary to make this issue a problem at the international level, and later move on to more concrete actions.”

According to Kaczynski, Poland suffered not only human losses in World War II, but also enormous material losses. “Germany needs to be reminded of trains full of looted works of art, valuable objects, but also things of less value, ordinary property of Poles,” says the PiS leader. — The feeling of impunity of the occupiers led to the fact that crimes were committed on a massive scale, even in addition to those that are officially recognized as crimes. Poland cannot agree to reduce all the evil and all the crimes of World War II to the Holocaust,” Kaczynski said.

This whole “reparations campaign” began back in July, when at a party (PiS) conference Jaroslaw Kaczynski said that “Poland never refused compensation for the Second World War, and those who think so are mistaken.” The call of the party leader was immediately taken up by his comrades - Deputy Prime Minister Cornel Morawiecki And ministerNational Defense AnthonyMacherevich, who began to detail exactly what reparations Poland is entitled to, and in what specific way they are going to collect them. She also contributed her “five cents” nPrime Minister Beata Szydlo:

“Poland talks about justice. Poland is talking about what needs to be done,” she said. — We are victims of the Second World War. We are victims who have not yet been compensated in any way. Reparations should be a reminder of justice, that Poland belongs. If we are talking about voices that criticize this position, that have a different opinion, then they must first of all look at history and remember what happened on Polish soil during the Second World War,” said the head of government, and as proof of the seriousness of intentions announced the total amount of reparations that Germany must pay to Poland - 258 billion pre-war zlotys or, in terms of the exchange rate on August 1, 1939, 48.8 billion USD (this figure was derived by experts from the Analytical Bureau of the Sejm (Biura Analiz Sejmowych).

Let me briefly remind you: the issue of reparations to Germany for damage caused during the Second World War was decided in 1945 at conferences in Yalta (February 4-11, 1945) and Potsdam (July 17-August 2, 1945), in which they accepted participation of the leaders of the victorious countries: from the USSR - Joseph Stalin, from Great Britain - Winston Churchill, from the USA - Franklin Roosevelt(in Yalta) and Harry Truman(in Potsdam).

Poland's reparation claims were to be satisfied by the USSR from its share (it was planned that Poland would receive 15%; in August 1945, the amount of reparations was agreed upon between the USSR and Poland and secured by a corresponding agreement). The remaining members of the anti-Hitler coalition were supposed to receive reparations from the Western occupation zones. But the USSR’s share was formed through reparations from both zones of occupation - Western and Soviet.

In May 1946, the Western powers refused to pay reparations to the USSR from their occupation zones. Thus, Poland received only a share of reparations from the Soviet occupation zone. After the formation of the German Democratic Republic on October 7, 1949, the governments of the Polish People's Republic and the USSR agreed in August 1953 to refuse to collect reparations from the GDR.

The issue of German reparations in favor of Poland was completely closed on September 12, 1990, with the signing of the state Treaty on the Final Settlement in relation to Germany (also known as the “2+4 Treaty”), concluded between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as the USSR, Great Britain, and the USA and France. Since during its preparation Poland did not make any demands for reparations, it was agreed that this treaty would block all subsequent demands for reparations.

Now the head Polish Foreign Ministry Witold Waszczykowski- also a member of PiS - shouts at all corners: “In 1953, the Polish government was a communist colony, and therefore all its decisions are invalid. In general, there are a number of doubts about whether these decisions have any significance in international law».

Let's say. But what about 1990, noble sir? After all, at the time of the signing of the “Treaty 2+4”, the communist Polish People’s Republic had already sunk into oblivion a year ago and at the helm was a government led by premiere by Tadeusz Mazowiecki And Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Leszek Balcerowicz? Oh, they were then completely absorbed in the “radical transformation of political institutions and local governments, the liberalization of prices and the privatization of state property,” as a result of which they had no opportunity to be distracted by anything else. Well, those who didn’t make it in time are late, as the German authorities announced to the Cabinet of Beata Szydlo:

“The German government considers the issue of war reparations for damage caused to Poland during the Second World War closed,” she said. deputy official representative Federal Government Ulrike Demmer. “Berlin is certainly responsible for World War II morally, politically and financially, but the issue of German reparations to Warsaw was finally settled in the past on a political and legal level.”

But despite such a rebuke, the Polish cabinet continues its “onslaught.”

Ukrainian, vilely killed on April 16, 2015 in Kyiv writer and journalist Oles Buzina back in September 2008, he published an article on his website “How the Poles and Hitler divided Czechoslovakia.” The article began like this:

“In the mythology of World War II there is one clear scoundrel - Hitler, and numerous victims of his criminal tendencies. But for some reason Poland got into the role of the very first (and perhaps the main!) of them. How many tears have been shed by Polish historians over the treacherous attack of the Wehrmacht on their defenseless “oichizna”. How many films have been made about noble Polish officers! How many songs have been written about beautiful lancers with pikes who went on their last campaign against tanks? Guderian to the cry of their Baseks and Maryseks!

Alas, this is only a fake sheep's skin of an impudent Polish hyena, who rushed to rob someone else's property, was left without a tail and raised whining all over the world. By the way, it was not I who was the first to call Poland a “hyena”, but a great humanist, democrat and a bit of an imperialist (how could we not?) Winston Churchill. It is he, the most charming Winnie the Pooh of British political thought, who expressed himself in his memoirs about the current “Euro-lawyer” of Ukraine: “Poland is the same Poland that just six months ago, with the greed of a hyena, took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state!”

The indignation of a cognac and cigar lover is easy to understand. He recalled the security guarantees in the event of a German attack that the Polish government demanded from Great Britain in the summer of 1939. premiere of Rydz-Smigly, who had just taken part together with the Germans in the division of Czechoslovakia."

And here’s what Sir Winston Churchill, the “Winnie the Pooh” of British political thought, wrote about Poland back in 1938:

“The heroic character traits of the Polish people should not force us to close our eyes to their recklessness and ingratitude, which over the course of several centuries caused them immeasurable suffering. In 1919, this was a country that the Allied victory, after generations of partition and slavery, had transformed into an independent republic and one of the major European powers. Now, in 1938, because of such an insignificant issue as Teshin ( meaning Cieszyn Silesia — S.D.) the Poles broke with all their friends in France, in England and in the USA, who had returned them to a single national life and whose help they were soon to need so badly. We saw how now, while the reflection of the power of Germany was falling on them, they hastened to seize their share in the plunder and ruin of Czechoslovakia. It must be considered a mystery and tragedy of European history that a people capable of any heroism, some of whose representatives are talented, valiant, and charming, constantly displays such shortcomings in almost all aspects of their public life. Glory in times of rebellion and sorrow; infamy and shame during periods of triumph. The bravest of the brave have too often been led by the foulest of the foul! And yet there have always been two Polands: one fought for the truth, and the other groveled in meanness” (quoted by Winston Churchill. The second world war. Book 1. M., 1991, p. 147).

Germany