The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál

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To constitute our sources, we shall mostly lean on articles from German and French press (mostly daily and weekly newspapers) but as the need arises, we shall resort to official texts and speeches. For that purpose, we shall first see whether the 70 th anniversary of the German-Soviet pact is a single anniversary or was actually several times commemorated. Then we shall focus on the miscellaneous perceptions and the remembrance of this treaty from a country to the other and, finally, on the German and French glances concerning the Russian positions on this occasion. I. The 70 th anniversary of the German-Soviet pact: one or several anniversaries? At first sight, the commemoration of the German-Soviet pact, in France and in Germany before the 30 th of August has been reduced to its minimal (except as regards the German press). In fact, and it is what brings us to wonder about the identity of this anniversary, the German-Soviet pact is going to take importance in the French and German debates on the occasion of the 70 th anniversary ceremonies of the beginning of the Second World War on the 1 st of September 2009. a) The pact is commemorated on the angle of the release of entering war... How the anniversary of the pact was put off ten days is a very bothering question: the statements of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the origins of the release of the war finally transformed this almost forgotten pact into the star of the ceremonies of the 1 st of September: „the 70 th anniversary of the Second World War release engendered a politico-ideological heated exchange between Poland and Russia. For the Poles, it is obvious that the nonaggression treaty, signed on the 23 rd of August 1939 between Nazi Germany and the USSR and better known under the name of „Soviet German pact”, which allowed the attack of Poland on the 1 st of September 1939, was the release mechanism of the Second World War. This thesis is naturally rejected by Russia [...].” 5 The beginning of an article from L'Humanité published on the 4 th of September of this year shows that this pact was certainly revealed but under the particular angle of the release mechanism of entering war. If we want to be definitively convinced of it, we just have to compare the dates of the 1 st of September and surrounding days (from the 30 th of August till the 3-4 th of September) with those of the 23 rd of August. First, on the official side, on the 1 st of September, a big ceremony took place in Poland, in Westerplatte (where the first shot of the war was fired), where a lot of heads of state and 5 th ZERROUKY, Hassane: Polémique autour du pacte germano-soviétique. L'Humanité, 4 September 2009. 34
government (more than twenty) came, among whom the Russian Prime Minister and especially - as regards our study – German chancellor Angela Merkel and French Prime Minister François Fillon. Finally, for the press and in particular the French press which had „forgotten” the pact’s anniversary, the part which is dedicated to it in articles on the commemoration ceremonies of the beginning of the war is generally more important than that granted to the ceremonies themselves (and to the statements which were made there). Consequently, we can say that this treaty, to which other anniversaries were preferred for they were doubtlessly easier to commemorate and more likely to appear in the media, finally imposed itself. b)... but at the same time it was a real and lasting turnover for Europe However, this reduction of the pact Ribbentrop-Molotov to a release mechanism of the conflict (as the assassination of the Austria-Hungary archduke François-Joseph on the 28 th of June 1914, can be), is far from being satisfactory for this treaty was a real and lasting turnover for Europe and in particular Central and Eastern Europe. The press, the German one in particular, in long reports such as that of Ute Schmidt, 6 strive to reconstitute the direct consequences of this pact on the populations. This article is about the planned displacement (according to the secret clauses of the pact) of more than a halfmillion German from the Soviet sphere of influence (Bessarabia, Bukovina, the Baltic) towards the territories of the Reich. All this was organized by a German-Soviet commission. The journalist reminds that it was often a „personal disaster”, for the concerned inhabitants, to leave their native country, contrary to the assertions of the Nazi propaganda. But this also occurred in dreadful material conditions (50 kg suitcases, ...) and, moreover, during the war, there was a segregation on behalf of the German power (citizens of second zone, gathering in camps) which ended in 1945 with Soviet repression, and for those who had survived it, with an exile towards post-war Germany. In Germany as well, the 70 th anniversary of the German-Soviet pact cannot be dissociated from the human chain which gathered more than one and a half million Estonians, Letts and Lithuanians on 678 km during 15 minutes on the 23 rd of August 1989. 7 It was a way, for the population of the Baltic States, to denounce the pact Ribbentrop-Molotov (on the day of its 50 th anniversary) and to demand the independence for their countries in an action which many consider as the beginning of the 1989 bend in history (die Wende in German). So, we have to agree that the commemoration of the German-Soviet pact cannot be limited to the mere signature of it, but has also to be considered according to its spatial and human consequences and throughout time as well. 6 SCHMIDT, Ute: Einwandfreies Menschenmaterial. FAZ, 22 nd August 2009. 7 URBAN, Thomas: 15 Minuten Freiheit. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 23 rd August 2009.; VESER, Reinhard: Eine Last für die Nachgeborenen. FAZ, 20 th August 2009. 35
Page 2 and 3: ISBN 978-963-284-164-9
Page 5 and 6: Unknown Clauses: The Background Dea
Page 7 and 8: CONTENTS Foreword (István MAJOROS,
Page 9 and 10: Foreword The world remembers in 200
Page 11: The Historical Judgement of the Mol
Page 14 and 15: went often on emotional instead of
Page 16 and 17: What is much more interesting is th
Page 18 and 19: such an international agreement as
Page 20 and 21: Text of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggress
Page 22 and 23: Done in duplicate, in the German an
Page 25 and 26: Lachaise, Bernard Historiography of
Page 27 and 28: Relations) are the focus of special
Page 29 and 30: Russian agreement (…) would allow
Page 31 and 32: Europe and on the French communists
Page 33 and 34: adopted a stance of denying the fac
Page 35: Ortolan, Guillaume The 70 th annive
Page 39 and 40: War. On the contrary, it shows that
Page 41 and 42: this anniversary and more widely of
Page 43: interesting: „Illusions. In summe
Page 47 and 48: Kretschmann, Vasco The ideological
Page 49 and 50: One of the most influential associa
Page 51 and 52: Germanness in the provinces of West
Page 53 and 54: Prętkiewicz, Przemysław The syste
Page 55 and 56: interwar period and the treaty was
Page 57 and 58: situation of rising danger accepted
Page 59 and 60: Manchukuo and broke relations with
Page 61: I would like to finish my article w
Page 64 and 65: party itself but for the whole Slov
Page 66 and 67: In summary, the group of the „Mod
Page 68 and 69: make proposals or suggestions. 6 In
Page 70 and 71: (Aland), Hanko and the islands of t
Page 72 and 73: have had a less serious effect on t
Page 74 and 75: not expect strong resistance and ho
Page 77 and 78: Winkler, Paul Adolf Eichmann’s Vi
Page 79 and 80: individual offenders, 10 who used h
Page 81 and 82: esearch. But how could the suppress
Page 83 and 84: expert of this matter 29 and had as
Page 85 and 86: Arendt on the contrary is in the op
Page 87 and 88:
the „matter”, where there was a
Page 89 and 90:
adoption of the model it became cle
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of Eichmann. For that Heydrich deli
Page 93:
esistance […] but of logistics. N
Page 96 and 97:
British government refused to give
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ole in the defence of Madrid in Nov
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public doubt the democratic idea of
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Republicans. In the refugee camps i
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102
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iron? Where can one find more nicke
Page 108 and 109:
According to his diaries, the main
Page 110 and 111:
announced: „We have no active all
Page 112 and 113:
110
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negative, an analysis of the disapp
Page 116 and 117:
can let think of an imminent war po
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de la guerre [il] ne fait que l'agg
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Party), the enemy of the inside. Of
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120
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Before the Pact M. Coulondre, the F
Page 126 and 127:
Lets us skip a few decades and list
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argain with. Hitler had an offer th
Page 130 and 131:
secret protocol clarified that the
Page 132 and 133:
to reach out for Russia through the
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of a war interesting rather on civi
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At the same moment, we can note an
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Faure 2 , remains hostile to war. I
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war can still be avoided in June 19
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acked by a „belligerent” coalit
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142
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agreement” sound anachronistic. E
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1939 between Germany and the Soviet
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Two ideas emerge from the press: on
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soviets didn’t have motive. Blum
Page 154 and 155:
Moscow's line, with the national an
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154
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2.000 German speaking inhabitants).
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The Eastern Polish border was not r
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Army. The mayor of Lviv did not wan
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162
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Budapest, and for Warsaw. The two c
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could not destroy the Polish Air Fo
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independence, Romania was forced to
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importance for the events considere
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possible future opposition to the S
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ate of communists within the Jews o
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the initial positive feeling toward
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wanted to take revenge for the NKVD
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German Reactions A last point that
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The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál

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