Fire destroys house where Truman stayed during
Potdsam Conference 

September 26, 1999

ASSOCIATED PRESS

POTSDAM, Germany -- The villa where
President Harry Truman stayed during the 1945
Potsdam Conference was destroyed in an early
morning fire Saturday, police said.

The cause of the fire was undetermined, but police
said they had not ruled out arson. The house,
which was undergoing renovations, was empty at
the time. Damage was estimated in the millions.

Truman stayed in the house, located in the
exclusive Babelsberg neighborhood, during the
July 17-Aug. 2, 1945, Potsdam Conference,
where decisions made by the victorious Allied
powers about the postwar division of Germany
and Europe were confirmed.

During his stay, Truman also is believed to have
given the order to drop atomic bombs on the
Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The house is currently owned by the
Friedrich-Naumann foundation, which is tied to a
small market-oriented political party, the Free
Democrats.