the casual reader should receive the message that the expulsions were agreed to at the yalta and potsdam conferences they should also be aware that stalin outmaneuvered the gullible western allies at both those conferences stalin didn't care about the poles he killed poles mostly polish military officers at katyn in stalin was more concerned about gaining back lands lost in the early s namely lands within the polish border east of the curzon line that land area had a population which included ethnic poles stalin needed somewhere to dump those poles so he proposed that germans be moved west the poles be moved west roosevelt was dying in he was easily outmaneuvered by stalin by the potsdam conference in the summer of churchill had lost power and had to leave the conference early and truman was tied down by roosevelt's commitments so stalin got his way again the casual reader should also receive the message that the wild expulsions by both russian and polish authorities were begun east of the oder neisse line and long before the end of july potsdam conference which only authorized the ethnic cleansing of germans from within the borders of poland and from czechoslovakia and hungary the potsdam agreement separated all german territory east of the oder neisse line from occupation germany all of that german territory east of the oder neisse line had been part of the soviet occupation zone of germany prior to the potsdam conference most of that german territory was placed under temporary polish administration pending the final peace treaty for world war the potsdam agreement also stipulated that northern east prussia to be placed under temporary soviet administration pending the final peace treaty for world war note there is a distinction between occupation and temporary adminsitration as delineated by the potsdam agreement