Potsdam Conference

After the tour we went to the site of the so called new palaces which now are part of the private Potsdam University. It had been an East German university and would have been closed but for the involvement of investors committed to keep it open who agreed to maintain the site if the university had access.

We then went to the site of the post-WWII conference which, together with the prior Yalta Conference, defined Europe after WWII. American conservatives blame Roosevelt and Churchill at Yalta and Truman and Attlee at Potsdam for appeasing Stalin and giving him Eastern Europe.

The conference took place in the Cecilienhof castle.

Potsdam is the capital of the Brandenburg state and has 200,000 residents. It is not mainly a university town.

We're about to start the tour...assuming Kim wakes up, as she fell asleep on the drive to the site...now awake.

The castle was built early in the 20th century so is quite new. The entrance is marked by a big red geranium star planted by Stalin. It has been maintained.

The overall atmosphere has a bit of a severe East German feel to it.

The upshot of the conference was the collapse of the alliance that had beaten the Nazis and the clear start of the Cold War. Churchill represented Britain at the start but lost an election during the conference such that Attllee took his place. Truman was there because FDR had died a couple of months beforehand. The French were not invited but ultimately were given a share of the administration of Berlin. (Why?!)

The furniture on display is what was here for the conference. The conference room looks how it was then with the three original flags on the table. There were separate entry doors so no single leader or delegation could enter first and be seen as dominant. If it was as hot then as it is no I'm amazed they were able to sit there all day and in more formal attire. No wonder the outcome wasn't great for the west.