85 years ago, on 23 August 1939, representatives of 2 totalitarian powers – Joachim von Ribbentrop and Wiaczesław Molotov – signed the Soviet-German pact on non-aggression along with the secret Additional Protocol, which resulted in the 4th demolition of Poland and the division of spheres of influence in Central Europe.
"The issue of a fresh division of the planet by war was on the agenda," Stalin said at the 18th legislature of the All-Union Communist organization (bolsheviks) in March 1939. He listed respective of the top conflicts that have torn the planet apart, including the Ethiopian War, the Spanish civilian War, and the Japanese-Chinese War. He stressed that the only crucial country in the planet which pursues a policy of seeking peace is the russian Union that he rules. "We are in favour of peace and strengthening the material relations with all countries, we stand and stand in this position, as long as these countries respect the same relations with the russian Union, unless they effort to undermine the interests of our country," Stalin said.
In Stalin's speech the word peace fell 25 times, but in fact his message was an offer of a military-political alliance, which had ultimately, as a consequence of the war, to end the Versailles order in Europe. "The real goal was to attract German diplomacy to talks. The 3rd Reich had a remarkable response. The russian leader knew that it was essential to search an agreement with the strong and strong will of aggression, and so with Germany" – noted prof. Mariusz Wolos from the Institute of past of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the University of the Committee on National Education in Krakow. 1 of the first Western politicians to see Stalin's message was that Winston Churchill remained on the margins of political life in Britain. The future Prime Minister asked the Ambassador of the ZSRS in London if Stalin's words "means refusal to cooperate with democratic states?". Majski gave an evasive answer.
Six days after Stalin's speech, German troops occupied the Czech Republic and subjugated the puppet Slovak State. In consequence to the breach of the provisions of the Munich Conference on 31 March 1939, Prime Minister of large Britain Neville Chamberlain issued a message of guarantees of Poland's aid in the event of a war against Germany: "In the event of any war which would clearly endanger Poland's independency and which the Polish government would consider [...] essential to defy utilizing its national armed forces, His Majesty's government will feel obliged to give immediate support to the Polish government under its power."
As Henry Kissinger noted in “Diplomation” the message of the British Prime Minister was a failure of diplomacy Germany seeking to isolate another possible victim of the “great Germany” policy. However, as erstwhile diplomat added, Chamberlain did not see Stalin's makiavelic policy. "If the British Cabinet had carefully examined Stalin's message at XVIII The Party's reunion would realize that with the greater enthusiasm Britain is organizing opposition to Hitler, the more careful Stalin will be to keep to himself to the side to increase his possible for impact on both sides,” said Kissinger. Germany needed a warrant that Stalin would not be on the side of Warsaw, London and Paris. This interplay of events almost "sent" 2 dictators to cooperation from which they could draw their own benefits.
As early as July 1939, negotiating a German-Soviet trade agreement, Karl Schnurre, at the request of Berlin, told his Moscow interlocutors that "there are no problems concerning areas from the Baltic to the Black Sea, or the Far East, which Germany and the ZSRS could not solve". Thus, the way to an agreement that had passed into past as a Ribbentrop-Molotov pact was open.
On August 21, Stalin approved the arrival of the head of German diplomacy in Moscow. The negotiations were to be made by Germany to offer solutions to the abovementioned "problems" between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. After only a fewer twelve hours, early on August 23, a German plane with abroad Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop landed at Moscow Airport. He was greeted among the flags of the Nazi Reich, which was rushed to bring from a plan implemented in 1 of Moscow's studies of propaganda movie aimed at national socialists. "It was incredible in specified haste that Hitler decided to hit Poland within 3 days," explained Paweł Wieczorkiewicz in "Polish political past 1935-1945". According to German plans, the attack on Poland was to begin at dawn on 26 August. At the last minute, he was delayed by Hitler, who was amazed by the signing of the Polish-British Alliance Treaty on 25 August.
The records of the open pact on non-aggression did not disagree in their pronunciation from another specified agreements contained in the interwar 20 years. "The 2 Contracting Parties undertake to refrain from any violence, from any aggression and any assault in their relations both separately and together with another countries" has been declared. The following points guarantee that possible disputes between the USSR and the Reich are resolved “only by friendly exchange of views”. The pact was to be in force 10 years ago. "Let us remember that the essence of the agreement concluded in Moscow was not a public and public pact on non-aggression, otherwise akin to many another papers of this kind signed during the interwar period, but just a secret protocol on the division of Central and east Europe into zones of interest," said Prof. Mariusz Wolos in an interview with PAP.
The first point of the secret protocol states that: “In the case of territorial and political transformations in areas belonging to the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), the northern border of Lithuania will besides be the border of the German and ZSRS interest zones. Consequently, both parties recognise Lithuania's interest in Vilnius.’
The second point, straight concerning Poland, was as follows: “In the case of territorial and political transformations in areas belonging to the Polish State, the limits of the German and ZSRS zones of interest will be about along the Narwi, Vistula and Sanu rivers. The question of whether it would be desirable in common interest to keep an independent Polish state and what the borders of this country will be, will be explained only in the course of further political events. In any event, both governments will deal with this issue through a friendly agreement."
The signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact and the attached protocol culminated in a banquet at which toasts were made for the fresh relationship and leaders of both countries. In the morning Ribbentrop flew to Berlin, where he was enthusiastically welcomed by Hitler, who called the abroad Minister "the fresh Bismarck". Indeed, the actual alliance between Moscow and Berlin meant another return to the cooperation of both powers, 1 of the objectives of which was to jointly manage Central Europe, without respecting the sovereignty of its peoples.
The records of the secret protocol gave greater benefit to the russian Union "Pact Ribbentrop-Molotov brought Hitler seemingly little benefits than Stalin: Polish territory west of the Vistula Line and designation of Lithuania as a German sphere of influence. But Hitler received simultaneously—and that was priceless—the guarantees of Moscow's neutrality in his conflict with the West. The threat of war on 2 fronts, at least in the close future, ceased to be for Germany. Both partners signing the Kremlin pact treated it as an ad hoc solution. Both had goals far more ambitious than the demolition of Poland or the subordination of the Baltic republics. These were conflicting goals, so the war between the 3rd Reich and the russian Union was inevitable," said Andrzej Garlicki in the synthesis "History of 1815-1939. Poland and the World". In addition to the political arrangements for both parties, an economical agreement was highly important. Germany guaranteed supplies of strategical natural materials from russian oil fields. In return, the russian Union was to receive products from German industry. Germany has never full complied with the economical arrangements concluded, but until the last moments before the aggression at the USSR on 22 June 1941 it accepted invaluable transports for the war device from the east.
The Germans hoped that Stalin would enter the war as early as September. They were anxiously awaiting his fulfilment of their obligations. The russian dictator did not launch the attack until September 17, erstwhile he was certain that Polish allies would not launch offensive actions against Germany that could change the destiny of the run in Poland. 5 days later, Wehrmacht and the Red Army filmed together in Brest over Bug.
The Soviet-German agreement was crowned by the alleged second Ribbentrop-Molotov pact concluded on 28 September 1939, even erstwhile the last troops of the Polish Army fought against 2 aggressors. This time Stalin was the initiator of the agreement, who proposed to correct the defined 23 August spheres of interest. In the fresh agreement Lithuania was to enter the russian Union. In return, Germany received most of Poland. The boundary of the 4th partition was moved east, about to the Curzon line drawn by the British diplomats. A fewer weeks later, Stalin began implementing the remaining points of the agreement. The next victims of the dictator were Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and Finland in late November 1939.
The signing of the pact linking the 2 erstwhile ideological enemies shocked the world. The records of the secret protocol rapidly ceased to be a secret for diplomats of respective countries. On August 24, the secretary of the Moscow Reich ambassador Friedrich von Schulenburg summarised records of the secret protocol to his American colleague Charles E. Bohlen, who handed it over to Washington. From there they reached London and Paris. The russian Union, despite uncovering an annex to the pact of 23 August in the archives of the fallen 3rd Reich, denied its existence until the late 1980s. Half a century after signing the alliance of totalitarianism, 2 million Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians, as well as Poles surviving in these countries, holding hands, formed a surviving chain from Vilnius by Riga to Tallinn, demanding freedom taken from them on 23 August 1939.
In tribute to millions of victims of both totalitarianisms, on the anniversary of the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, the European Day of Memory of Victims of the Totalitarian Regimes is celebrated. The celebration was announced by the European Parliament on 23 September 2008.
