Potsdam Conference
Also called: Potsdam Declaration
Truman, Stalin and Churchill (later Attlee) settled the treatment of defeated Germany at Potsdam. During the conference the US, Britain and China issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding Japan’s unconditional surrender.
Unknown official photographer · Public domain · Source
After Germany’s surrender the three leaders met at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam, near Berlin, from 17 July to 2 August 1945. They agreed on the demilitarization, denazification and democratization of Germany, its occupation in four zones, reparations, and the Oder–Neisse line as Poland’s new western border. After the British election Attlee replaced Churchill partway through.
On 26 July the US, Britain and China issued the Potsdam Declaration, demanding Japan’s unconditional surrender and reaffirming the Cairo Declaration’s promise of Korean independence. Yet the conference also exposed clear differences between the US and the USSR over Eastern Europe.