Yalta

1) "(...) At the Crimea conference of the big three in Yalta, Churchill recalled why his country had marched against Hitler. "Great Britain entered the war to defend Poland against German aggression. We stand beside Poland because it is a question of honour. Great Britain will never accept a decision which does not give Poland the security of ruling on its own territory."

Stalin, whose forces had now been in Polish territory for three weeks, responded that he understood Churchill's code of honour. "For Russians, however, the Polish question is not only one of honour, but also of security."

Russia had previously sinned against Poland, he said, and the Soviet government was keen to make good. "But the core of the problem lies significantly deeper. In the course of the last 30 years, the Germans have marched twice through Poland to attack our country. Why could the enemy march so easily through Poland until now? Above all because Poland was weak." Stalin had by then installed his own followers to form a government that would make the Polish strong, free and independent."

The British government", said Churchill, "believes that this government does not represent even one third of Polish people."

Stalin responded that he would like to speak in his capacity as a military man. "As a soldier, what do I demand from the government of a country liberated by the Red Army? I demand that this government guarantee peace and order in the hinterland of the Red Army, prevent a civil war behind our front, and not stab us in the back."

In his view, neither the men of the government who had fled to London in 1939 nor their underground fighters had done that. They had attacked Russian weapons depots, had already murdered 212 Red Army soldiers, and violated his orders concerning the operation of radio broadcasts. When they are arrested, they complain. "If these forces continue attacking our soldiers, we will shoot them." Because these forces were already acquainted with Stalin when he and his partner Hitler divided Poland and liquidated its officer corps, they blamed the Russians for the annexation of their territory in 1939. East Poland had now been re-conquered; it was and remained White Russia.

Stalin did not want his current partners to steal from him what Hitler had given him in the past. He offered the Poles one third of Germany as compensation. To keep this territory in the long run, they should get used to being protected by him.

"The Polish question has given the world headaches for five hundred years," sighed Roosevelt. In Churchill's view, it was necessary to ensure this would not continue. "Absolutely!" agreed Stalin. His headaches had diminished somewhat. All the ground in the East and South-East that Hitler had once subjugated was under Soviet control within a short period of time." The Mongol devastations, By Jörg Friedrich

PS: Churchill acabou por perder a Polónia (e todo o leste da Europa) e o Império Britânico (sobre o qual afirmou ainda antes da sua queda, que não tinha feito a(s) guerra(s) para ver o Império desaparecer), e o comunismo que conseguiu fazer a revolução por causa da Primeira Guerra, acaba consagrado territorialmente e intelectualmente na Segunda - isto depois do "aliado" Estaline ter praticado os seus maiores crimes (bem maiores que os Nazis até 1939) durante a década dos anos 30. Porque se chama vitória a um resultado destes é tipico da coisa "política".

2) Audio: Do presidente da Foundation For Economic Education (FEE): Dr. Richard EbelingDancing with the Devil: FDR, Stalin, and the Lasting Legacy of the Yalta Conference