This page will not display properly in your browser. Internet Explorer officially went out of support in June 2022. If you're using a screen reader such as JAWS, please feel free to continue. Otherwise, please consider using another browser.
View all events after 1945

March 05, 1946


Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” Speech

In March 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. He described “an iron curtain [that] has descended across the continent,” dividing Europe into two spheres: one under Soviet influence and the other under Western influence. Churchill’s speech was an early acknowledgement of the divisions emerging between the Allies and the extent to which those divisions would shape the postwar era.

Thank you for supporting our work

We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement.