Talk:Restatement of Policy on Germany

Negotiator Byrnes
From "Potsdam Conference" in Oder-Neisse line:

James Byrnes – who had become US Secretary of State earlier that month (i.e. July 1945) – 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.[17] 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 (Odra-Bóbr-Kwisa) rivers through Żagan and Lubań, 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.[18] Byrnes's concession undermined the British position, and although British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin raised objections,[19] 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."[20] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.14.217.231 (talk) 21:34, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Sneaky pov pushing
The Byrnes quote as given in the article was: "The United States will support revision of these frontiers in Poland's favor". This was coupled with a claim that this was evidence that Byrnes was "questioning" the border changes. So the text was trying to give the impression that United States would support the revision of the border changes which had been in Poland's favor. I.e. There were border changes in Poland's favor. US didn't like them and would support revising them again.

Of course it's bunkum.

The full quote actually says:

"The Soviets and the Poles suffered greatly at the hands of Hitler's invading armies. As a result of the agreement at Yalta, Poland ceded to the Soviet Union territory east of the Curzon Line. Because of this, Poland asked for revision of her northern and western frontiers. The United States will support revision of these frontiers in Poland's favor. However, the extent of the area to be ceded to Poland must be determined when the final settlement is agreed upon. "

In other words, Poland asked to revise northern and western borders in its favor. The US will support such revisions. Completely different picture. This is a pretty deceitful tactic, and one which I notice is repeated at several other articles.

Lesson for the day kids: just cuz it's a quote and it has a citation to a reliable source at the end, don't mean it's not agenda driven POV pushing.Volunteer Marek (talk) 18:56, 14 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Actually it is your interpretations that are bunkum, both of the text of the speech, and certainly your battlefield sentence just above. Please stop your (failed) attempts of Original Research. You are old enough to know it is not acceptable. A good advice: Read some good books if you have to involve yourselves in these areas, and avoid Polish material colored by almost half a century of communist propaganda.--Stor stark7 Speak 23:57, 14 July 2011 (UTC)


 * What Polish material? What are you talking about? I very clearly illustrated above that you manipulated the Byrnes quote to suggest something it wasn't saying. Then I fixed the article by including the whole quote. So....... care to explain how including the whole quote instead of a cut-and-reassembled version is Original Research?
 * And just for the record, I have read a book or two before.Volunteer Marek (talk) 16:35, 15 July 2011 (UTC)