Formally delimited the postwar border between Poland and the USSR, codifying territorial transfers decided at Yalta and reshaping Poland's eastern frontier.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- 16 August 1945
- Date entered into force
- 5 February 1946
- Signatory government
- Polish Provisional Government of National Unity
- Territory ceded by Poland
- Pre-war Eastern territories (Kresy) transferred to USSR
- Border extent
- Baltic Sea to tripoint with Czechoslovakia in the Carpathians
- East Prussia
- Division of former German East Prussia recognised
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The 1945 Yalta Conference had already determined that Poland's pre-war eastern territories (Kresy) would be ceded to the Soviet Union, with the Curzon Line serving as the basis for the new border. These decisions, made by the Allied powers, left the Polish communist Provisional Government of National Unity to formally ratify arrangements largely imposed by Stalin during the course of the war.
On 16 August 1945, Poland's Provisional Government of National Unity signed a border agreement with the USSR, officially accepting the loss of the Kresy territories. The treaty defined the full delimitation line from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian tripoint with Czechoslovakia, returned some territory along the Curzon Line to Poland, and confirmed the division of former German East Prussia between the two states.
The agreement, entering into force on 5 February 1946, permanently redrawn Poland's eastern boundary and gave legal form to the westward shift of the Polish state. Millions of Poles were resettled from the ceded eastern territories, while ethnic Ukrainians and Belarusians were moved in the opposite direction, fundamentally altering the demographic and territorial character of postwar Poland.
Political Outcome
Poland formally ceded its pre-war eastern territories (Kresy) to the USSR; the full Poland–USSR border was delimited from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathians, including recognition of the East Prussia division.
Poland's pre-war eastern frontier included the Kresy territories; border status was contested or provisional
Kresy territories formally transferred to USSR; Poland's eastern border fixed along the Curzon Line with minor adjustments