The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál

education. As a matter of fact, the student will exclusively find in his books the
historical events. It’s a history without end and the agreement will be
thoroughly described and explained.
The seventies show a break through (the influence of May 1968) in the way
of teaching history. We don’t deal with rooted and hierarchical chapters any
more that encourage continuous reading. Clearly we can observe a wish to find
a balance between the historical facts, the written documents and the
iconography. Even if the documents are kind of weak, especially when it
concerns the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement. We can also observe the absence
of a map of Central Europe which is a pity because it would have helped the
student to understand the territorial claims from Hitler and Stalin. The
presentation of the historical facts has the upper hand. „The clear position of
the Soviet Union, the replacement of Litinov, obtained through a co-operation
with the West, by Molotov, a very strict interpreter of the Stalin’s realism; does
this mean a change in orientation of soviet’s foreign politics?” 6 .
The Soviet Union is at the centre of attention of the European powers. Their
politics stay very ambiguous, an ambiguity that is made very clear in the school
books. The soviet foreign politics remain complex, a fact which the school
books have difficulty to define.
In the nineties, we observe a big innovation in the making of school books by
illustrating the facts with documents, made in a way to attract the student. The
historical facts progressively leave room for written or iconographical illustrations.
The secret protocol of the agreement is partially copied in the books. To clarify this
protocol, the school books explain on the one hand the reasons of this treaty or
agreement (the secret protocol) and on the other hand the consequences. But the text
that explains the treaty is briefer than it used to be before and uses a vocabulary also
seen before like „counter nature union” and „the world is stunned”.
The educational process evolves, because the student is now asked to make an
intellectual step by using documents. This willingness of showing the treaty
through a different light continues till the years 2000 in which a new program is
made in 2002 and 2007. The Nazi-Soviet Pact is considered in a more complex
way comparing totalitarianism, fascism, Nazism and Stalinism. Their
resemblances, their dissidences and their expansions have to be explained by the
student. In 2003 new school books appear full of files and close ups explaining on
two pages the historical facts that were important and decisive. The two pages
dedicated to the Nazi-Soviet Pact are composed of a documentary corpus full of
questions to make students reflect on the event. In 2007 there are two definitions
that illustrate this double page. The word pact is „an agreement with mutual
obligations” 7 and the Nazi-Soviet pact is defined as „the signature of August 23,
6
BOUILLON, J et JOHN, A.M. et BRUNEL, F.: Histoire: le monde contemporaine 1914-
1945, manuel de terminale. Bordes, Paris, 1980. 312 à 314.
7
LAMBIN, Jean-Marc: Histoire première ES, L, S. Hachette éducation, Paris, 2007. 294-
295., 316-317.
145