Revision of borders of Poland (1945)
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In Western Europe the start of the Second World War is usually dated from the German invastion of Poland, 1 September 1939. Both Britain and France had given guarantees to protect Poland from attack.
In 1945, Poland's borders were redrawn, following the decision taken at the Teheran Conference of 1943 at the insistence of the Soviet Union. The eastern territories which the Soviet Union had occupied in 1939 (minus the Bialystok region) were permanently annexed, and most of their Polish inhabitants expelled: today these territories are part of Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. In compensation, Poland was given former German territory (the so-called Regained Territories): the southern two thirds of East Prussia and all of Pomerania, Brandenburg and Silesia, up to the Oder-Neisse line. These territories were repopulated with Poles expelled from the eastern regions. Polish resistance fighters were incarcerated or deported to Siberia by Stalin in line with decisions made by Churchill and Roosevelt.
The fact, that Western leaders tried to force Polish leaders to accept the conditions of Stalin is a matter of continuing resentment for some Poles even today. Some view it as a "betrayal" of Poland by the Western allies (which can be seen as part of a larger "betrayal" to allow it to fall entirely into the Soviet sphere of influence anyway). Moreover, it was used by ruling communists to underline anti-Western sentiments. It was easy to argue, that Poland wasn't too important to the West, since its leaders sacrificed Polish borders, legal government and free elections. On this background even Stalin looked better, since he had strong interests in Poland.
Defenders of the actions taken by the Western allies maintain that realpolitik made it impossible to do anything else, and that they were in no shape to start a war with the Soviet Union over the subjegation of Poland and other Eastern European countries immediately after the end of World War II. Bliss Lane claimed that some actions of Secretary of State were a result of ignorance rather than realpolitik.
The latest discussioin indicates that the real problem was that Western politicians had promised to Stalin to settle issue of borders with Poles but they failed to do so. Polish Prime Minister expecting serious debate of borders faced Stalin, who expected this problem to be already claused. The result was failure of Warsaw Uprising and 200 000 of civilian victims.
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References
- Arthur Bliss Lane. I saw Poland betrayed: An American Ambassador Reports to the American People. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1948.