Churchill (Britain), Rosevelt (America) and Stalin (USSR) attended the conference to approve the plans for occupation and administration of post-war Germany.
Four zones of occupation were agreed, one for the USSR, one for France, one for Britain and one for America.
It was also agreed that within the zones, the occupying countries should srtive to acheive the four D's, Demiliterisation, Denazification, Democritisation and Decartilisation.
Stalin seemed to accept the possibilty of a neutral and disarmed Germany.
However, there were major differences on what to do about reparations. Stalin wanted a large monetary reparation in addition to 80% of all Germany factories.
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Potsdam Conference August 1945
France did not attend, and Churchill had been replaced by Atlee. This caused problems as Churchill had acted as a mediator at the Yalta Conference.
The allies agreed that Germany should owe $20 billion, but disagreed on how or when that sum should be paid. It was eventually decided that each occupying power should take reparations from their own zones
The principle of the four ds were reaffirmed and it was agreed that they should work towards a unified and decentrilsed Germany.
Each zone adopted different political and social systems.
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The Nuremberg Trials November 1945
8th August 1945 it was decided to try the leading Nazi war criminals before the International Military Tribunal.
13 trials, 21 of the most prominent leaders were interogated and new evidence and documentation were found.
There were four groups of criminals, Military, Party men, Civil servants and Mass murderers.
There were four courts. One tried crimes against peace, another against war crimes, another against humanity and the last against conspiracy.
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