La Vérité sur les rapports germano-soviétiques de 1939 à 1941 – The Truth About German–Soviet Relations, 1939–1941. First publication of secret German documents discovered in the archives of the German Foreign Ministry and seized at the end of the war, documenting early cooperation between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union prior to the outbreak of World War II. Published by France-Empire on behalf of the United States Department of State. Paris, 1948 – First French edition.
An American documentary publication issued after World War II, in which the United States government revealed secret German documents seized at the end of the war. Included in this publication are: diplomatic documents, transcripts of conversations, and agreements between Hitler and Stalin (such as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact); exchanges between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1941; and evidence of covert cooperation between the two regimes – including the partition of Poland, economic agreements, and military intelligence sharing. The volume also features a memorandum from the U.S. Department of State to the German Foreign Ministry (Wiedesker), a transcript of an interview with the Soviet ambassador from May 1939 revealing early attempts at collaboration between Nazi Germany and the USSR prior to the war, and more.
According to the editors’ introduction, in 1945, the U.S. and British armies seized the archives of the German Foreign Ministry, which had been evacuated from Berlin. The exploitation of these archives by intelligence services began immediately. It was soon determined that documents concerning the goals and methods of German foreign policy should be published to inform both global and German public opinion. In June 1946, the U.S. Department of State and the British Foreign Office agreed to jointly fund the publication of approximately twenty volumes of documents illustrating German foreign policy between 1918 and 1945. The French government later joined the agreement. The documents were to be published in the original German text, and the most important among them also translated into English. It was agreed that the selection and editorial process would be conducted with the highest degree of scholarly objectivity, and that independent scholars and government researchers alike would be involved. Each government retained the right to publish selected documents separately. The U.S. State Department chose to publish separately the most significant documents concerning German–Soviet relations between 1939 and 1941. This selection was made by editors Raymond James Sontag and James Stuart Beddie, in collaboration with Gene Brownell Dulles, based in Washington. However, it later became clear that the purpose of the publication was not entirely objective. The editors sought to highlight the early cooperation between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (prior to the German invasion of the USSR in June 1941), aiming to undermine Soviet credibility on the international stage—especially in light of the growing tensions of the early Cold War. The publication portrayed the USSR not only as a victim of Hitler, but also as his accomplice in the early stages of the war. The red star at the bottom of the illustrated dust jacket clearly alludes to Communism, while the American flag overlapping the title hints at U.S. endorsement and responsibility for “revealing the truth.”
See also related scholarly articles published in the Journal of Cold War Studies and Diplomatic History. This publication was also the subject of extensive research by John Lewis Gaddis, a leading historian of the Cold War, and Gabriel Gorodetsky, a specialist in German–Soviet relations.
Rare. Only a few copies are listed in WorldCat global library catalog – in European libraries.
255 [2] pages. Original binding with the illustrated dust jacket. Tear with minor loss to the edge of the dust jacket; otherwise, in good condition.
