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→Aftermath
Similar slogans were expressed by the Soviet Union propaganda until 1989. The official propaganda in all [[Eastern Bloc]] countries stated that Poland was betrayed and the only ally Poland could rely on was the [[Kremlin]].
Similar slogans were expressed by the Soviet Union propaganda until 1989. The official propaganda in all [[Eastern Bloc]] countries stated that Poland was betrayed and the only ally Poland could rely on was the [[Kremlin]].
===1940s===
====Atlantic Charter====
Soon after the [[Third Reich]] had invaded the Soviet Union in [[Operation Barbarossa]], the Polish government in exile signed a pact with [[Joseph Stalin]]. Although the Poles wanted a declaration that all pacts the USSR had signed with the Nazis were null and void, Stalin refused to consider any suggestion that he surrender the territory he seized consequent to the [[Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]]. It was for Poland that Britain entered the war in the first place and Britain was sympathetic to Polish interests. Britain nonetheless pressured the Poles to withdraw this demand, since, in Churchill's words, "We could not force our new and sorely threatened [Soviet] ally to abandon, even on paper, regions on her frontier which she regarded for generations as vital to her security." The London Poles conceded but only after Britain agreed to state in writing that all agreements that adjusted Poland's pre-war borders were null and void. The Soviet-Polish agreement was signed on July 30, 1941, and [[Anthony Eden]] formally notified the [[House of Commons]] of the arrangements that same day. In response to a parliamentary question about Britain's commitment, however, Eden stated that "The exchange of notes which I have just read to the House does not involve any guarantee of frontiers by His Majesty's Government."
The Poles were more successful in obtaining Soviet agreement to the creation of the [[Polish Army in the East]], and obtaining the release of Polish citizens from the [[Gulag|Soviet labor camps]]. Despite the difficulties the Soviet government made, many were freed from confinement and permitted to join the Polish Army formed formally on August 12, 1941. However, after the troops were withdrawn to the [[Middle East]] in March 1942, Stalin revoked the amnesty and in June and July arrested all Polish diplomats in the USSR.
Meanwhile, on September 24, 1941, Poland and the Soviet Union signed the [[Atlantic Charter]]. It underlined that no territorial changes should be made that would ''not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned.'' It was viewed by the Polish government as a warrant of Poland's borders, although it became apparent that some concessions would have to be made.
In December 1941, a Conference was held in [[Moscow]] between the USSR and Great Britain. Stalin proposed to base post-war Polish western borders on the [[Oder-Neisse Line]] and demanded that the United Kingdom accept the pre-war western borders of the Soviet Union. [[Anthony Eden]] accepted the demand as he assumed that the border in question was the 1939 line. However, Stalin apparently meant the 1941 border with Germany. It was soon discovered, but British government decided not to change the document. On March 11, 1942, [[Winston Churchill]] notified Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski that the borders of the [[Baltic States]] and [[Romania]] were guaranteed, and that no decision was made regarding the borders of Poland.
====Katyn and the Soviet pressure====
From the very beginning of Polish-Soviet talks in 1941, the government of Poland was searching for approximately 20,000 Polish officers missing in Russia. Stalin always replied that they either ''must have fled to Mongolia'' or ''are somewhere in Russia, which is a big country and it's easy to get lost here''. In April 1943 German news agencies reported finding mass graves of Polish soldiers in [[Katyn]]. The Polish government requested the Soviet Union examine the case and at the same time asked the [[Red Cross|International Red Cross]] for help in verifying the German reports.
On April 24, 1943, Sikorski met with Eden and demanded Allied help in releasing Polish prisoners in the [[gulag]]s and Soviet prisons. Sikorski also declined the Soviet demand that Poland withdraw their plea to have the Red Cross investigate Katyn. [[Anthony Eden]] refused to help and the Soviet Union broke diplomatic relations with Poland on the following day, arguing that the Polish government was collaborating with [[Nazi Germany]]. Despite Polish pleas for help, the [[United States]] and the United Kingdom decided not to put pressure on the USSR.
After the Soviets stopped the German advance on the Eastern Front, Poland lost its significance as the main Eastern ally. This was made obvious by the German [[Battle of Stalingrad|defeat at Stalingrad]].
====Tehran conference====
In November 1943, the [[Big Three]] (USSR, USA, and UK) met at the [[Tehran Conference]]. Both Roosevelt and Churchill officially agreed that the eastern borders of Poland would roughly follow the Curzon Line. The Polish government was not notified of this decision and the only information given was the press release claiming that ''We await the day, when all nations of the world will live peacefully, free of tyranny, according to their national needs and conscience''. The resulting loss of the "eastern territories," approximately 48% of Poland's pre-war territory, to the Soviet Union is seen by Poles as another "betrayal" by their Western "Allies".
According to many historians, Churchill and Roosevelt promised Stalin to settle the issue with the Poles, however they never sincerely informed the Polish side. When the Polish Prime Minister visited Moscow, he was convinced he was coming to discuss borders that were still disputed, while Stalin believed everything had already been settled. This was the principal reason for the failure of Polish Prime Minister's mission to Moscow.
==References==
==References==