Diplomats hangs, queues in toilets and flushs in the beds of the world leaders. What is not said of the conference at Ialta

We remained in memory the iconic photography of February 9, 1945: Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, in heavy coats, sitting solemnly on a bench, apparently masters on the fate of the world. An image that has entered all history textbooks. But behind the goal and beyond the official smiles, things were different: Roosevelt was barely breathing, Churchill was dizzy, and the back diplomats had a less glorious problem – severe constipation and lack of toilets.

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, at Ialta/Photo: Archive

In February 1945, with the almost concluded war, the three leaders of the Allies met in a dusty resort on the Black Sea, to Ialta, to divide Europe, to decide the future of Germany, Poland, the UN and, practically, the post-war world order. The choice of the place was not random – Stalin required that the meeting would take place on the USSR territory, in order to have the symbolic and logistical advantage. The Americans and the British have accepted, with the resignation of those who know they have no choice.

A resort in ruin, a dying leader and a whole delegation derived

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, already weakened by the disease and kept in the life of morphine, was also brought with personal hairdresser and the porcelain service of the White House. Churchill, between two cigars and glasses of whiskey, noted his dissatisfaction in an unofficial journal. And Stalin, treacherous and jovial in appearance, watched everything with the cold eye of the winner, writes Slate.FR.

The resort chosen for the conference was a romantic ruin. Houses without a roof, impracticable mountain roads and smell of death among the ruins of the former imperial villas. The British and the Americans – over 700 people in total – were accommodated in the former residence of the Tsar, reconditioned with the help of Romanian prisoners.

Conditions? Almost hilarious. Electricity Pica Des, the bathrooms were improvised, and Winston Churchill complained that he slept in a bed infested. Anna Roosevelt, the daughter of the American president, note with the sarcasm that the mattresses were “so thin that I felt every bow.” But the real drama would take place at dawn, in front of the toilets. With only four cabins available for the entire British delegation-one of them had water-the diplomats had come to send their secretaries early to keep them in line. Sarah Churchill, the prime minister's daughter, tells how, around 7:30, you could see three Mareşali standing in a row with a lighean in her hand.

Slavic feasts, western hangings

But what was not missing was the food – or rather, the excess. According to the Russian custom, the hospitality was directly proportional to the amount of caviar, boron and vodka. Each room had fruits, mineral water and a “protocol” vodka. In the evening, Stalin organized banquets in Soviet style, where the toasts for the “friendship of the peoples” were held chain, and the glass was seen more empty than full.

“It's not a party, it's a competition”, noted an American diplomat dry. The winners? The Russians, obviously. It is said that some Western diplomats were taken – or worn – in the rooms, while at breakfast they were suspicious from discussions.

When the hangman passes, the history remains

And yet, beyond drunkenness, flies and queues at latrine, the conference was a major diplomatic success.

These excesses did not prevent the continuation of the negotiations. At the end of the seven days of debate, the Americans felt they won the game. The USA, the USSR and the United Kingdom have drawn the contours of the post -war world – the division of Germany, the distribution of spheres of influence, the promise of “free” elections in Eastern Europe and the sketch of the United Nations.

“For what I won here, I would have pleasantly stayed for a whole month.”General George Marshall smiled. Stalin and Churchill seemed, in front of the cameras, as satisfied. They broke up as good friends. “After the last handshake, Ialta was deserted, except for those who always have to clean after a party,” joked Sarah Churchill. The excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco at Ialta did not, however, be devoid of consequences: the leaders of the “three big” would suffer with all heart attacks just a few months after the diplomatic conference. Maybe from the smoke of cigars and Russian alcohol. Or, more cynically, maybe history does not forgive even those who do it.