NAZI-SOVIET RELATIONS, 1939-1941


Documents from the Archives of the German Foreign Office

Edited by Raymond James Sontag and James Stuart Beddie

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Department of State, 1948
Department of State Publication 3023


Organization of the electronic version of this book: Below the Preface is the Contents page. The major division of the book are listed there. Click on the appropriate page number to go to a particular division. Once there you can scroll down to see descriptions of the individual files. Click on a selection to go directly to that file, or continue to scroll down to read them in order.

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Click to see the listing for a collection of photos and maps revelant to this period.

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Preface

In 1945 the American and British armies captured the archives of the German Foreign Office which had been evacuated from Berlin. Use of the archives for intelligence purposes began immediately. Later, it became evident that the documents concerning the aims and methods of German foreign policy should be published for the enlightenment of world opinion, including German opinion.

In June 1946 the Department of State and the British Foreign Office agreed to sponsor jointly the publication of approximately twenty volumes of documents illustrative of German foreign policy from 1918 to 1945. The French Government subsequently became a party to this agreement. The documents were to be printed in the original German, and the more important were also to be printed in English translation. It was agreed that the selection and editing were to be performed on the basis of the highest scholarly objectivity and that, to secure an authoritative and scholarly documentary record of German foreign policy, the services of private scholars should be enlisted, as well as the services of scholars in government service. Each Government reserved the right to publish separately any portion of the documents.

The Department of State has decided to publish separately the most significant documents bearing on German-Soviet relations during 1939-1941. This collection has been made by the Washington editors of the documents, Raymond James Sontag and James Stuart Beddie, assisted by Jean Brownell Dulaney.

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Editors' Foreword

The editors have selected for publication at this time all documents essential to an understanding of the political relations between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union from the first efforts to reach an agreement in the spring of 1939 to the outbreak of war in June 1941. The larger publication sponsored by the American, British, and French Governments will include additional details, as well as documents which throw light incidentally on Russo-German relations, but which are concerned with other subjects. The lengthy agreements defining frontiers, and the bulky details of economic relations, have been left to the larger publication. Documents summarizing economic negotiations have, however, been included. Each document has been printed in full, without omissions or alterations.

The translations, except for a few prepared by the editors, were made by the Central Translating Division of the Department of State, and revised by the editors.

The editors have had complete independence in their work and final responsibility for the selection of relevant documents.

RAYMOND JAMES SONTAG

JAMES STUART BEDDIE

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CONTENTS

                                                                       Page

PREFACE .............................................................. III

EDITOR'S FOREWORD .................................................... IV

LIST OF PRINCIPAL PERSONS ............................................ VII

ANALYTICAL LIST OF DOCUMENTS ......................................... IX

I. Tentative Efforts to Improve German-Soviet Relations, 
   April 17- August 14, 1939 .........................................   1

II. Agreement Achieved, August 14-August 23, 1939 ....................  50

III. The Pact Executed and Amended, August 23-September 28, 1939 .....  79

IV. German-Soviet Cooperation, October 2, 1939-May 29, 1940 .......... 110

V. Friction in the Baltic and the Balkans, June 4-September 21, 1940 . 144

VI. The U. S. S. R. and the Three Power Pact, September 
    25-November 26, 1940 ............................................. 195

VII. Soviet Resistance to the German Advance in the Balkans,  
     December 18, 1940-March 13, 1941 ................................ 260

VIII. The Soviet Treaties With Yugoslavia and Japan, 
      March 25-April 13, 1941 ........................................ 280

IX. The Failure of Efforts to Preserve Peace, April 15-
    June 22, 1941 .................................................... 325

NOTE ON FILES ........................................................ 359

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[Blank]

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LIST OF PRINCIPAL PERSONS

ALFIERI, Dino, Italian Ambassador in Germany

ASTAKHOV, Georgei, Counselor of Embassy of the Soviet Embassy in Germany

BECK, Josef, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs

BLÜCHER, Dr. Wipert, German Minister in Finland

CIANO, Count Galeazzo, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs

CRIPPS, Sir Stafford, British Ambassador in the Soviet Union

DEKANOSOV, Vladimir G., Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, later Soviet Ambassador in Germany

GAUS, Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm, Under State Secretary, Head of the Legal Division of the German Foreign Office

GÖRING, Hermann, Reichsmarshal, Reich Air Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force

GRUNDHERR, Dr. von, Minister, Head of the Baltic and Scandinavian Section of the Political Division of the German Foreign Office

HENCKE, Andor, Under State Secretary in the German Foreign Office

HEWEL, Walter, Representative of the Reich Foreign Minister on the staff of the Führer

HILGER, Gustav, Counselor of Legation, later Counselor of Embassy in the German Embassy in the Soviet Union

HITLER, Adolf, Führer of the German Reich and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces

JODL, Major General Alfred, Chief of Operations Staff (Wehrmachtführungsstab) of the German High Command

KEITEL, Marshal Wilhelm, Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces (OKW)

KOLLONTAY, Alexandra, Soviet Minister in Sweden

KÖSTRING, Lieut. General Ernst, Military Attaché of the German Embassy in the Soviet Union

LITVINOV, Maxim, Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs to May 3, 1939

MACKENSEN, Hans Georg von, German Ambassador in Italy

MATSUOKA, Yosuke, Japanese Foreign Minister

MEISSNER, Dr. Otto, Minister of State and Head of the Presidential Chancellery (Praesidialkanzlei)

MEREKALOV, Alexei, Soviet Ambassador in Germany

MIKOYAN, Anastas I., Soviet Commissar for Foreign Trade; Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars

MOLOTOV, Vyacheslav M., Chairman, later Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union; Commissar for Foreign Affairs from May 3, 1939

MUSSOLINI, Benito, Head of the Italian Government

OSHIMA, Hiroshi, Japanese Ambassador in Germany

OTT, General Eugen, German Ambassador in Japan

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PAPEN, Franz von, German Ambassador in Turkey

POTEMKIN, Vladimir, Soviet Deputy Commissar for Foreign Affairs

RAEDER, Grand Admiral Erich, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy

RIBBENTROP, Joachim von, Reich Foreign Minister

RITTER, Dr. Karl, Ambassador on special assignment in the German Foreign Office, in charge of economic warfare questions

ROSSO, Augusto, Italian Ambassador in the Soviet Union

SCHLIEP, Dr., Counselor of Legation, Head of the Eastern European Section of the Political Division of the German Foreign Office.

SCHMIDT, Dr. Paul Otto Gustav, Minister, Chief of the Bureau of the Reich Foreign Minister, interpreter in diplomatic negotiations

SCHNURRE, Dr. Karl, Counselor of Legation, later Minister, head of the Eastern European and Baltic Section of the Commercial Policy Division of the German Foreign Office

SCHULENBURG, Friedrich Werner, Count von der, German Ambassador in the Soviet Union

SCHWERIN-KROSIGK, Lutz, Count von, Reich Finance Minister

SHKVARTSEV, Alexander, Soviet Ambassador in Germany

SKIRPA, Kazys, Lithuanian Minister in Germany

SOBOLEV, Arkady A., General Secretary of the Soviet Commissariat for Foreign Affairs

STALIN, Josef, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union

STEINHARDT, Laurence A., United States Ambassador in the Soviet Union

STRANG, Sir William, Head of British Mission to the Soviet Union

TIPPELSKIRCH, Werner von, Counselor of Embassy, later Minister in the German Embassy in the Soviet Union

VISHINSKY, Andrei, Deputy Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union

WARLIMONT, General Walter, Deputy Chief of the Operations Staff (Wehrmachtführungsstab) of the German High Command (OKW)

WEIZSÄCKER, Ernst, Baron von, State Secretary in the German Foreign Office

WIEHL, Emil Karl Josef, Ministerialdirektor, Head of the Commercial Policy Division of the German Foreign Office

WOERMANN, Dr. Ernst, Under State Secretary, Head of the Political Division of the German Foreign Office

WUORIMAA, Aarne, Finnish Minister in Germany