Yalta Conference

The second Big Three conference took place at Yalta when the Red Army had already reached the Oder. It agreed on dividing Germany into occupation zones with France taking part, on voting rules in the UN Security Council with a veto for the permanent members, and on the Soviet Union entering the war against Japan in return for gains in the Far East.

For Poland, Yalta meant an eastern border on the Curzon Line with minor deviations, a promise of compensation in the west and the 'reorganisation' of the communist Provisional Government by adding politicians from Poland and from exile, together with a pledge of 'free and unfettered elections'. The Polish government in London, absent from Yalta, judged these decisions contrary to Poland's rights. In Poland, 'Yalta' became a byword for handing Central Europe over to the Soviet sphere.