 Figure 1.-- > |
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What was not known at the time that the NAZIs and Soviers announced the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was that there was a Secret Protocol to the Pact. This Protocol cynically partionioned the countries and people of Eastern Europe betwen the two totalitarian giants. Cpies of the Secret Protocol was only discoered after the end of the World War II (1945). The Allies gained access to secret NAZI diplomaric files with a signed copy of the Pact. The Soviets continued to deny this protocol until the Soviets began to open up as part of General Secretary Gorbechev's Glasnost polict (1989). The Soviets received the Finlans, Latvia, and Estonia). Germany got Lithuania. Poland was divided along the Narew, Vistula, and San rivers. And the Soviets gor north-eastern Romania. The Soviet acquisitions were all areas that had been part of the old Rusian Empire. Southeastern Europe was left undefined. As the War developoed, the Germans began to take an interet in Finland and southeastern Europe much to Stalin's displeasure. The Soviet's seized Lithuania much to Hitler's displeasure. Diplomatic contacts were unable to resolve their differences. Here is the actual text:
On the occasion of the signature of the Nonaggression Pact between the German Reich and the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics the undersigned plenipotentiaries of each of the two parties discussed in strictly confidential conversations the question of the boundary of their respective spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. These conversations led to the following conclusions:
1. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement in the areas belonging to the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the northern boundary of Lithuania shall represent the boundary of the spheres of influence of Germany and the U.S.S.R. In this connection the interest of Lithuania in the Vilna area is recognized by each party.
2. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement of the areas belonging to the Polish state the spheres of influence of Germany and the U.S.S.R. shall be bounded approximately by the line of the rivers Narew, Vistula, and San. The question of whether the interests of both parties make desirable the maintenance of an independent Polish state and how such a state should be bounded can only be definitely determined in the course of further political developments. In any event both Governments will resolve this question by means of a friendly agreement.
3. With regard to Southeastern Europe attention is called by the Soviet side to its interest in Bessarabia. The German side declares; its complete political disinterestedness in these areas. This protocol shall be treated by both parties as strictly secret.
Moscow, August 23, 1939.
For the Government of the German Reich: V. RIBBENTROP
Plenipotentiary of the Government of the U.S.S.R.: V. MOLOTOV
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