Paris Peace Treaties of 1947

Paris Peace Treaties of 1947. Treaties defining boundaries and war reparations of the European states that had supported Nazi Germany and been defeated in the Second World War. A preliminary peace conference was held in Paris between 29 July and 15 October 1946 to discuss the draft treaties for peace with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland that had been prepared by the foreign ministries of the Four Powers (Great Britain, France, the United States, and the USSR). Delegates attended from 21 states, including the Ukrainian SSR (represented by Dmytro Manuilsky, O. Voina, Mykola Petrovsky, Volodymyr Koretsky, Mykhailo Ptukha, Anatolii Baranovsky, Oleksander Kasymenko, and others). The Ukrainian SSR was among the signatories to the five treaties signed in Paris on 10 February 1947. Among matters settled were the Ukrainian SSR’s boundaries with Romania and Hungary. Romania recognized the 1940 cession of Bessarabia and northern Bukovyna to the USSR, and Hungary accepted its 1938 boundaries, except for a minor frontier rectification in favor of Czechoslovakia. Italy and Finland were required to pay reparations valued at 100 million US dollars and 300 million US dollars respectively to the USSR; Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania were also required to compensate the USSR for losses incurred during the war. The Ukrainian SSR, however, was not awarded any direct reparation payments. The treaties also made provisions to guarantee the cultural rights of national minorities and general civil rights, but Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary subsequently ignored the provisions. Ukrainian émigré organizations used the opportunity of the peace talks in Paris to raise their concern with the delegates as to whether or not the delegates for the Ukrainian SSR were truly representing the interests of the republic’s citizens.

Serge Cipko, John-Paul Himka

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]