Changes

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===

===1940s===

{{Anchor|Oder-Neisse line}}

{{Anchor|Oder-Neisse line}}

====Atlantic Charter====

====Atlantic Charter====

[[File:Oder-Neisse Line.PNG|right|300px|thumb|Oder-Neisse Line]]

[[File:Oder-Neisse Line.PNG|right|300px|thumb|Oder-Neisse Line]]

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.

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====

====Volhynia massacre====

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.

 

In the Polish village of Parosle near Sarny, a gang of [[Ukrainian nationalist]]s posing as Soviet partisans deceived the villagers who had hosted the gang during the day. In the evening, the bandits surrounded all the houses and killed the Polish population. 173 people were killed. Only three people survived. Two were able to hide under the corpses and one boy turned himself in. A later investigation of the murdered revealed the extreme cruelty of the executioners. Infants had been nailed to tables with kitchen knives. Several people were skinned. Women were raped, some had their breasts cut off, many had their ears and noses cut off, their eyes cut out, their heads cut off. After the massacre, there was a drinking feast in the house of the local village school. After the executioners left, among the scattered bottles of homemade liquor and leftovers, a one-year-old child was found nailed to the table with a bayonet and had a piece of sour cucumber in his mouth that one of the bandits had not eaten." ''Semaschko Turowski: Atrocities committed by Ukrainian nationalists against the Polish population in Volhynia in 1939 and 1945.<ref>Myroslav Yurkevich, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Orhanizatsiia ukrainskykh natsionalistiv) ''This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).''</ref>

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====

====Tehran conference====