Bookvica

[ON A NON-AGGRESSION PACT BETWEEN NAZIS AND THE SOVIET UNION] O ratifikatsii sovetsko-germanskogo dogovora o nenapadenii [i.e. About Ratification of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact]

Molotov, V.

Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo politicheskoi literatury, 1939. Item #1434

16 pp.: portr. 20x13 cm. In original printed wrappers. Near fine.

A copy of the first half of a huge printrun of 10 million copies (as credited).
Report of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Viacheslav Molotov (1890–1986) given at a session of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union on August 31, 1939. The Treaty, also known as Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, was signed on August 23, 1939. It included the Secret Protocol, which defined the borders of Soviet and German spheres of influence across Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Bessarabia.
In this edition, Molotov announced why the pact was needed in those circumstances, stressing failure of the Triple Alliance Negotiations between the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France. According to this text, the treaty was announced with pomposity, humor and criticism of English and American press, as usual. At the same time, details of the pact were omitted.
The report ends with words: “Soviet-German non-aggression pact means a turning point in development of Europe, a turn to improvement of relations between two largest states in Europe. The Treaty guaranteed the elimination of the threat of war with Germany”.
The day after this report, Germany attacked Poland. The book was signed for print and distribution on September 5, 1939 – after WWII had officially begun.

Worldcat shows copies located in Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Wisconsin, Duke Universities.

Price: $300.00