75th Anniversary: Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: A 'honeymoon' for two dictators
August 23 marks 75 years since Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union signed the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. It lasted a mere 22 months.
Just one week after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (officially the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) on August 23, 1939, the Second World War began with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany. Two weeks later, Soviet troops also occupied areas of Poland. The victorious campaign ended with a "brotherhood" parade of Red Army and Wehrmacht units through Brest, Belarus, watched over by Soviet Brigade Commander Semyon Krivoshein and German General Heinz Guderian, who stood side by side. Two years later, Guderian's tank units were at Moscow's doorstep. The short "honeymoon" between the two countries was over.
"In the summer of 1939, Stalin had the largest land army in the world," said well-known Russian historian Mark Solonin in an interview with DW. "He could have made it clear to Hitler that if he invaded Poland, millions of Soviet soldiers would arrive the next day at Poland's border. There wouldn't have been war then. But Stalin didn't want to disrupt Hitler."
"The most important element in German-Soviet cooperation between 1939 and 1941 wasn't the cooperation between the armies at all, but rather the economic deliveries that resulted on a large scale," said Ganzenmüller. "There are reports, even from June 22 1941, meaning the day the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union, that the soldiers encountered trains with Soviet deliveries. The Soviets were true to the contract until the end."
Another "partnership" existed between the NKVD - the Soviet political police - and the German Gestapo. After a secret agreement approved by the Soviet leadership, anti-fascist former German and Austrian citizens who had fought against Hitler could be delivered from Soviet territories to the Gestapo. Many dozens of them, including well-known German communist Margarete Buber-Neumann, were handed over. The majority were killed.
http://www.dw.de/molotov-ribbentrop-pact-a-honeymoon-for-two-dictators/a-17873179
Occupation of the Baltic States and Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina
In mid-June 1940, when international attention was focused on the German invasion of France, Soviet NKVD troops raided border posts in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. State administrations were liquidated and replaced by Soviet cadres, in which 34,250 Latvians, 75,000 Lithuanians and almost 60,000 Estonians were deported or killed. Elections were held with single pro-Soviet candidates listed for many positions, with resulting peoples assemblies immediately requesting admission into the USSR, which was granted by the Soviet Union. The USSR annexed the whole of Lithuania, including the Scheschupe area, which was to be given to Germany.
Finally, on 26 June, four days after France sued for an armistice with the Third Reich, the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum demanding Bessarabia and, unexpectedly, Northern Bukovina from Romania. Two days later, the Romanians caved to the Soviet demands and the Soviets occupied the territory. The Hertza region was initially not requested by the USSR but was later occupied by force after the Romanians agreed to the initial Soviet demands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov–Ribbentrop_Pact#Consequences_in_Finland.2C_Poland.2C_the_Baltic_States_and_Bessarabia
Hitler and Stalin got along nicely for awhile anyway.
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