Conference in San Francisco; Provisional Government of National Unity; Testament of Fighting Poland; End of the War

Abstract

On 25 April 1945. as the last shots were fired in Europe, a conference opened in San Francisco that was to give rise to the United Nations Organization. The problem was first touched on at the meeting of the representatives of the great powers in Dumbarton-Oaks, near Washington, between 21 August and 7 October 1944. The United States, Great Britain, Russia and China there put forward the project to create an international security organisation. Its main organ would be a Council consisting of eleven members, five of whom — the United States, Great Britain, Soviet Russia, China and France — would have a permanent place there, while the remaining six would be elected for a period of two years by the General Assembly. The problem was discussed again at Yalta, where the structure of the new organisation was established; and now, although the war was still on, the conference was attended by representatives from forty-five (later even forty-nine) countries. A couple of weeks previously, on 12 April. President Roosevelt had died, his place was automatically taken by vice-president Harry Truman, and everyone awaited his appearance with considerable interest, wondering what political line he would follow.¹