1942 Formation of the anti-Hitler coalition

75 years ago, January 1, 1942, representatives of 26 states - Australia, Belgium, Great Britain, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, Greece, Dominican Republic, India, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, New Zealand , Norway, Panama, Poland, El Salvador, the USSR, the USA, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the Union of South Africa - signed the Declaration of the United Nations in Washington, thereby forming an anti-Hitler coalition. The declaration asserted that a complete victory over Germany and her allies was necessary "for the defense of life, liberty, independence and religious freedom and for the preservation of human rights and justice both in their own countries and in other countries" and that the members of the anti-Hitler coalition "are a common struggle against the savage and bestial forces that seek to conquer the world."