Footsteps of WWII · Berlin & eastern Germany
Cecilienhof: the Potsdam Conference
Headquarters · 17 Jul–2 Aug 1945
The story
From 17 July to 2 August 1945 Truman, Stalin and Churchill (replaced partway through by Clement Attlee after the British general election) met at Cecilienhof, a mock-Tudor country house in Potsdam's New Garden built for the last Crown Prince. It was the third and longest of the wartime summits, organised by the Soviets, who fitted the Great Hall with a round table. The conference settled the occupation of Germany, reparations, the move of Poland's border west to the Oder–Neisse line and the expulsion of Germans from the east, and issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding Japan's surrender.
What to look for
From outside you can see the half-timbered house in the New Garden and the red star of flowers the Soviets planted in the courtyard. When open, the Great Hall with its round table and the delegations' studies are shown.
Plan your visit
The house is closed until further notice for restoration (October 2026); the park and exterior remain accessible and free. Check the SPSG website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- House of the Wannsee Conference · 7 km
- German Resistance Memorial (Bendlerblock) · 22 km
- Soviet War Memorial, Tiergarten · 23 km
- Topography of Terror, Berlin · 23 km
- Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe · 23 km
- Site of the Führerbunker · 23 km
All 160 sites in Footsteps of WWII →
Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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