The German Question at the First Summits of the Anti-Hitler Coalition

The author of this article, based on official publications of diplomatic documents and materials of personal origin, analyzes the events and, above all, the discussions of the German question at the first summits of the anti-Hitler coalition, examines allied discussions during the formation of the anti-Hitler coalition, which has relatively little coverage in historiography. Against the background of the analysis of the course and results of the meeting F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill in Placentia Bay on August 9—12, 1941, fixed in the Atlantic Charter, the author shows the development of relations between the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, of which Britain and the United States pursued selfish interests, while the USSR advocated a fair approach to building a new system of international relations. Considering the Soviet-Polish meeting on December 3—4, 1941 as the second summit of the anti—Hitler coalition, the author offers his own view not only on the process of discussing the issue of Soviet-Polish and Polish-German borders at this summit, but also on the nature of Soviet—Polish relations and the political settlement of future relations in Eastern Europe as a whole. The author draws an important conclusion that it is not the Atlantic Charter, but the “Declaration of Friendship and Mutual Assistance by the Government of the Soviet Union and the Government of the Polish Republic” that is the first document in the history of the United Nations and the starting point on the way to the Nuremberg Tribunal. Assessing against this background the results of the Moscow Conference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain (October 19—30, 1943) and the Tehran Conference (November 28 — December 1, 1943), the author comes to the conclusion that if the Soviet side consistently pursued a course to ensure the geopolitical and material conditions for resolving the German question on a long—term and on a fair basis, there were sharp clashes on the part of the West between supporters of weakening the USSR in the fight against fascism and forces advocating cooperation with the USSR

Friendship · German · Politics · Summit · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · Religion, Theology, History, Judaism, Christianity · Soviet and Russian History