The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-7

Part 2, Chapters 8-17

Part 3, Chapters 18-19

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Index of Terms

Atlantic Charter

President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill co-wrote the Atlantic Charter at a meeting in Newfoundland in 1941. The Charter explained the leaders’ goals for global politics, articulating values such as self-government and self-determination, and discouraging aggressor countries from war. This Charter was the foundation of the “Declaration on Liberated Europe,” which the three leaders penned at Yalta, which also stated that people must be free to govern themselves.

Livadia Palace

Livadia Palace is located on the Black Sea near the town of Yalta, Ukraine. The Russian Tsar Nicholas ll and his wife Alexandra built the palace as their summer home. Stalin selected Livadia Palace as the accommodation for the American delegation to Yalta, and Kathleen Harriman helped oversee the palace renovations in preparation for the conference.

NKVD

NKVD is the acronym for the Soviet secret police. The NKVD were responsible for enacting Stalin’s orders, including his personal security, police work, prison and gulag management, assassinations and deportations. Katz describes the NKVD as an “elite force of terror” (149), which allowed Stalin to have complete control over the Soviet population.

Women’s Auxiliary Air Force

Established in 1939, the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force was a subcategory of the British Royal Air Force during World War ll, in which women were allowed to serve. Women in the Air Force served a variety of roles in maintenance, communications, meteorology, and intelligence. Sarah Churchill was an officer in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, where she specialized in aerial reconnaissance intelligence.

Yalta

Yalta is a town on the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine. Located on the Black Sea, the town was traditionally a resort town for upper-class vacationers, including the Russian tsars. At the time of the Yalta conference, the town had been recently occupied by German forces and much of the surrounding infrastructure was destroyed.