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Department of State, 1948
Department of State Publication 3023
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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