Oder-Neisse Line

 

frontier established in 1945 between Germany and Poland; it followed the Oder and W Neisse rivers from the Baltic Sea to the Czechoslovak border. The boundary, desired by most Poles at the expense of Germany, came about as a result of agreements between the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945. The Soviet leader Joseph Stalin endorsed the Oder-Neisse line partly as a compensation for the Polish eastern territories that the USSR had annexed and partly under pressure from the USSR-sponsored Polish government. Although the boundary was originally opposed by the United States and Great Britain because it would make Poland excessively dependent upon the Soviet Union, they sanctioned it informally at Yalta in Feb., 1945. After disputed territories, including the former free city of Danzig (now Gdansk), had been in effect incorporated into Poland and their German population largely expelled, the Potsdam Conference of Aug., 1945, recognized the line as Poland's western frontier pending a peace treaty with Germany. In the absence of such a treaty, an agreement between the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and Poland recognized the line as the permanent frontier in 1950. The West German government recognized it in 1971. In 1990, during negotiations for German reunification, the East and West German legislatures agreed to recognize the inviolability of the Polish-German border, much to the relief of neighboring states.

This article is part of the series: Territorial changes of Poland History of Poland Geography of Poland Borders of Poland Historical administrative divisions of Poland
World War I
Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919)
Treaty of Versailles (1919)
Silesian uprisings
Polish Corridor
World War II
Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany
Polish areas annexed by USSR
Wartime administrative division
Tehran Conference (1943)
Yalta Conference (1945)
Potsdam Conference (1945)
Post World War II
Territorial changes
Treaty of Zgorzelec (1950)
Treaty of Warsaw (1970)
Two Plus Four Treaty (1990)
German-Polish Border Treaty (1990)
Lines
Curzon Line
Oder-Neisse line
Areas
Kresy ("Eastern Borderlands")
Kresy Zachodnie
Recovered Territories
Former eastern territories of Germany
Zaolzie
See also
Territorial changes of Germany

The Oder-Neisse line (Polish: Granica na Odrze i Nysie Łużyckiej, German: Oder-Neiße-Linie) marked the border between German Democratic Republic and Poland between 1950 and 1990. Since 1990, it has marked the border between re-unified Germany and Poland.

The line is formed primarily by the rivers Oder and Lusatian Neisse, but it deviates west of the Oder to include the seaport cities of Szczecin (German: Stettin) and Świnoujście (German: Swinemünde) within Poland.

History of the line

Before World War II, Poland's western border with Germany had been fixed under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919. It generally ran along the historic borders of Great Poland, but with certain adjustments that were intended to reasonably reflect the ethnic compositions of small areas beyond the traditional provincial borders. However, eastern Pomerania, Upper Silesia and Masuria had been divided, leaving large areas populated by rural Slavic population (often Germanized) on the German side and significant German urban populations on the Polish side. Moreover, the border was one of the longest possible borders and it left Germany divided into two portions by the Polish Corridor and the independent Free City of Danzig.

At the end of World War II in 1945, under the territorial changes demanded by the Soviet Union, the border was moved westward deep into territory formerly part of the German state, to a line which placed almost all of Silesia, more than half of Pomerania, the eastern portion Brandenburg and a small area of Saxony within Poland (See: Former eastern territories of Germany). Polish territory included also the former Free City of Danzig and the southern two-thirds of East Prussia, Masuria and Warmia. The northeastern third of East Prussia was directly annexed by the Soviet Union with the Klaipėda/Memel region becoming part of the Lithuanian SSR and the bulk of the territory forming the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian SFSR.

The territorial changes were followed by large-scale population transfers, including the expulsion of nearly all the ethnic Germans from the territory annexed by Poland and the Soviets and the return to Poland of the Polish displaced persons then inside Allied occupied Germany. In addition to this, the Polish population from the eastern half of the former Second Polish Republic, now annexed by the Soviet Union, was mostly expelled and transferred to the German Oder-Neisse territories for Polonizing them.

Among the Poles, there were not many who opposed Poland's territorial gains from Germany on a humanitarian basis, since they were perceived as justice for starting the war, genocide conducted by the German state and territorial losses of Poland as well as support that some of the German minority had given to the German Reich during its invasion and occupation of Poland, and the active role some individuals played in persecution and mass murder of Poles ^[1].

It was in Stalin's interests to see the Poles have a western border unacceptable to the more numerous Germans since Stalin could then maintain in Polish society the conviction that only the USSR would defend the border. Poles wanted to be sure the frontier was stable. After the war, 80% of those surveyed in the Wielopolska area (roughly the area of the Polish Corridor) supported the Oder-Neisse border.^[2]

Allies decided to move the Polish borders westwards

A decision to move Poland's boundary westward was made by the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union at the Yalta Conference, shortly before the end of the war. The precise location of the border was left open; the western Allies also accepted in general the principle of the Oder River as the future western border of Poland. The open question was whether the border should follow the eastern or western Neisse rivers, and whether Stettin, the traditional seaport of Berlin, should remain German or be included in Poland. The western Allies sought to place the border on the eastern Neisse, but Stalin refused to budge. Suggestions of the Bóbr / Bober river were also brushed aside by the Soviets.

Germany originally was to retain Stettin, while the Poles were to annex East Prussia with Königsberg, as the Polish government had in fact demanded at the start of World War II in 1939, due to East Prussia's strategic position that undermined defence of Poland. Other territorial changes proposed by Polish government were the inclusion of Silesian region of Opole/Oppeln, Danzig, straightening the border in Western Pomerania and areas near Bytów/Bütow and Lębork/Lauenburg.^[3]

Eventually, however, Stalin decided that he wanted Königsberg to be added to Soviet territory as a year-round warm water port for the Soviet Navy and argued that the Poles should receive Stettin instead. The pre-war Polish government in exile had little to say in these decisions, but insisted on retaining the historic Polish city of Lwów (now L'viv) in Galicia. Stalin refused to give it up and instead offered Lower Silesia with Breslau (now Wrocław). (Many people from Lwów would later be moved to populate Wrocław and Gdańsk).

The eventual border was not the most far-reaching territorial change that was proposed. There were proposals to include areas further west so that Poland could include the small minority population of Slavic Sorbs who lived near Cottbus and Bautzen.

At the Potsdam Conference the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union placed the German territories east of the Oder-Neisse line as formally under Polish administrative control. The Poles came to refer to those territories as the Regained Territories, due to fact that these areas had once (over 700 years ago) been in the possession of the Piast dynasty of Polish kings. It was anticipated that a final peace treaty would follow shortly and either confirm this border or determine whatever alterations might be agreed upon. It was also decided that all Germans remaining in the new and old Polish territory should be expelled, to prevent any claims of German minority rights. The final agreements in effect compensated Poland for 187,000 km² located east of the Curzon line lost to the Soviets with 112,000 km² of former German territories.

One of the reasons for this version of the border was the fact that it was the shortest possible border between Poland and Germany. It is only 472 km in length, because it stretches from the northernmost point of the Czech Republic to one of the southernmost points of the Baltic Sea in the Oder river estuary. The rights of the inhabitants of the formerly German territories, some of the people themselves originally of Slavic origin, were disregarded by the victorious powers and the Polish authorities, who sometimes also expelled Masurians, Slovincians, some Kashubians and Slavic Upper Silesians as "Germans".

It was Stalin who first insisted that Poland's western frontier be extended to the Oder at the Teheran Conference in late 1943. The Americans, however, were not interested in discussing any border changes at that time. ^[4] British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden wrote in his diary that "A difficulty is that the Americans are terrified of the subject which [Roosevelt advisor] Harry [Hopkins] called 'political dynamite' for their elections. But, as I told him, if we cannot get a solution, Polish-Russian relations six months from now, with Russian armies in Poland, will be infinitely worse and elections nearer." ^[5]

At the Yalta Conference, Poland was again discussed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that it would "make it easier for me at home" if Stalin were generous to Poland with respect to Poland's eastern frontiers. ^[6]. Winston Churchill said a Soviet concession on that point would be admired as "a gesture of magnanimity" and declared that, with respect to Poland's post-war government, the British would "never be content with a solution which did not leave Poland a free and independent state." ^[7] With respect to Poland's western frontiers, Stalin noted that the Polish Prime Minister in exile, Stanisław Mikołajczyk, had been pleased when Stalin had already told him Poland would be granted Stettin and the German territories east of the Western Neisse River. ^[8] Churchill objected to the Western Neisse frontier saying that "it would be a pity to stuff the Polish goose so full of German food that it got indigestion." ([2]) He added that many British would be shocked if such large numbers of Germans (more than 11 million) were driven out of these areas, to which Stalin responded that "many Germans" had "already fled before the Red Army."([3]) Poland's western frontier was ultimately left to be decided at the Potsdam Conference.

At Potsdam, Stalin argued for the Oder-Neisse line on the grounds that the Polish Government demanded this frontier and that there were no longer any Germans left east of this line, a claim which prompted Admiral William D. Leahy, US President Truman's Chief of Staff, to whisper "The Bolshies have killed them all", into US President Truman's ear. ^[9]. Later the Russians admitted that at least "a million Germans" (a number far too low) still remained in the area at that time. Several Polish leaders appeared at the conference to advance arguments for an Oder-Western Neisse frontier. Stettin was demanded for Eastern European exports. If Stettin were Polish, then "in view of the fact that the supply of water is found between the Oder and the Lausitzer Neisse, if the Oder's tributaries were controlled by someone else the river could be blocked." ^[10]

President Harry S. Truman and Prime Minister Clement Attlee said that they could not tolerate Polish administration of part of one of the occupation zones (effectively making Poland a fifth occupying power after the U.S., Britain France, and the Soviet Union) and the expulsion of millions of German people from it into other areas.^[11] Stalin responded that the Poles "were taking revenge for the injuries which the Germans had caused them in the course of centuries" ^[12]

James Byrnes – who had become US Secretary of State earlier that month – later advised the Soviets that the U.S. was prepared to concede the area east of the Oder and the Eastern Neisse (Nysa Kłodzka) river to Polish administration and not consider it part of the Soviet occupation zone, in return for a moderation of Soviet demands for reparations from the Western occupation zones. ^[13] A Nysa Kłodzka boundary would have left Germany with roughly half of Silesia. The Soviets insisted that the Poles would not accept this. The Polish representatives (and Stalin) were in fact willing to concede a line following the Oder-Bober-Queiss (Kwisa) rivers through what is now Zagan and Luban, but even this small concession ultimately proved unnecessary since the next day Byrnes told Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov that the Americans would reluctantly concede the Western Neisse ^[14]. Byrnes's concession undermined the British position, and although British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin raised objections ^[15], the British eventually agreed with the American concession.

Winston Churchill was not present at the end of the Conference as the results of the British election had made it clear he had been defeated. Churchill later claimed that he would never have agreed to the Oder-Western Neisse line, and in his famous Iron Curtain speech declared that "The Russian-dominated Polish Government has been encouraged to make enormous and wrongful inroads upon Germany, and mass expulsions of millions of Germans on a scale grievous and undreamed-of are now taking place." ^[16]

Recognition of the border by Germany

The governments of the German Democratic Republic and Poland signed the Treaty of Zgorzelec in 1950, recognizing the Oder-Neisse line, officially designated the "Border of Peace and Friendship" [4] In another treaty signed in 1989 between Poland and East Germany, the sea border was set and a dispute from 1985 came to an end.

In 1952, recognition of the Oder-Neisse line as a permanent boundary was one of Stalin's conditions for the Soviet Union to agree to a reunified Germany. The offer was rejected by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. In 1950 already, France declared the eastern borders of 1937 as applying and relevant to Germany, while Britain and the United States also condemned the Treaty of Zgorzelec between the GDR and Poland.

In West Germany, where the majority of the 12 million displaced refugees from the countries of Eastern bloc had settled, the recognition of the Oder-Neisse Line as permanent was long regarded as unacceptable. In fact, West Germany, as part of the Hallstein Doctrine, did not recognize either socialist Poland or the German Democratic Republic.

In 1963 the German opposition leader Willy Brandt said that "abnegation is betrayal". But it was Brandt who eventually changed West Germany's attitude with his policy of Ostpolitik. In 1970 West Germany signed treaties with the Soviet Union (Treaty of Moscow) and Poland (Treaty of Warsaw) recognizing the Oder-Neisse line as the border of Poland. This had the effect of making family visits by the displaced eastern Germans to their lost homelands now more or less possible. Visits however were still very difficult and permanent re-settling in Poland remained impossible.

In November 1990, after German reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland signed a treaty confirming the border between them, as requested by the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany. Earlier, Germany had amended its constitution and abolished Article 23 of West Germany's Basic Law, the one used for reunification, which could have been used to claim the former German eastern territories.

The 1990 German-Polish Border Treaty finalizing the Oder-Neisse line as the Polish-German border^[17] came into force on January 16, 1992 together with a second one, a Treaty of Good Neighbourhood, signed in June 1991, in which the two countries among other things recognized basic political and cultural rights for both German and Polish minorities living on either side of the border. Approximately 150,000 ethnic Germans still reside in Poland, mainly in the Opole (Oppeln) Voivodship, with smaller presence in regions such as Lower Silesia and Masuria, and one and a half million Poles live in Germany, both from recent migration as well as families living in Germany for centuries. Unlike Germans in Poland, Poles in Germany have no minority status, which is a thorn in the relations.

See also

• Expulsion of Germans after World War II
• Federation of Expellees
• Union of Poles in Germany

World War II-related events

• Vistula-Oder Offensive, from January 12 until February 2, 1945
• Yalta Conference, from February 4 to February 11, 1945
• Battle of Königsberg, from April 6 until April 9, 1945
• Battle of the Oder-Neisse, from April 16 until April 19, 1945
• Potsdam Conference, from July 17 to August 2, 1945

Further reading

• An East German pamphlet for propagandists entitled "Why is the Oder-Neiße Line a Peace Border?"
• CNN Cold War - The Oder-Neisse Line: Ethnic cleansing, 1940s style
• Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland on the confirmation of the frontier between them, 14 November 1990(PDF) (Treaty confirming the border between Germany and Poland (Warsaw, November 14, 1990) in Polish and German)
• The Oder Neisse Line Problem (German) [5]
• Closing The Ring Winston Churchill; Excerpt on the Teheran conference, from his memoirs.
• Speaking Frankly James F. Byrnes; Excerpt on the Yalta conference, from his memoirs.
• Triumph and Tragedy Winston Churchill; Excerpt on the Yalta conference, from his memoirs.
• Churchill's statement to the House of Commons 27, February, 1945, Describing the outcome of Yalta
• Statistics Of Poland's Democide Democide Addenda By R.J. Rummel
• The German-Polish Border Region. A Case of Regional Integration? ARENA Working Papers WP 97/19 Jorunn Sem Fure Department of History, University of Bergen
• Minority Rights Abuse in Communist Poland and Inherited Issues
• "Dismember or Dismantle", Time Magazine February 21, 1944

Footnotes

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