NAZI-SOVIET RELATIONS 1939-1941 Documents from the Archives of The German Foreign Office - revealing German deception and cunning on the eve of the outbreak of World War II, edited by Raymond James Sontag and James Stuart Beddie. Published by the U.S State Department, Washington, 1948 - first edition.
First publication of the most important documents relating to foreign relations between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in the years 1939-1941. After the American and British armies took over the archive of the German Foreign Ministry evacuated from Berlin in 1945, the Allies immediately began using it for intelligence purposes. In 1948 the United States Department of State decided to make public the most significant documents found. The documents published here were written during the period of the first attempts to reach an agreement with Nazi Germany in the spring of 1939 until June 1941, long months into the war. From the documents signed mostly by the Foreign Ministers of the countries, the great tension between the two powers at that time emerges, mainly in view of the fact that the Germans had already begun to move forces towards the German-Polish border, a move that made it clear to the Soviet Union that Germany was planning an invasion of Poland - and a constant denial from the German side that the approach to the border was made not for the purpose of war, but only for internal needs. In the documents signed by the German Foreign Minister, one can clearly see the deliberate deception of the false representation towards Russia, that if only "they live with us on a normal basis, the relations may yet become closer and better". As he denies again and again the spirit arising from the German press as if Germany was organizing for war against Russia, and claims that these reports are an initiative of private reporters and are not on behalf of the German government. One can also learn from the rare documents published here for the first time, that the main effort on the German side was to create a consensus regarding "neutral states" in order to neutralize the future formation of European allies against Nazi Germany. In almost every document that appears here, German cunning arises when the German representatives repeatedly declare that "peace and order" are the most important principles for them, at a time when Germany is in fact organizing from within to start a war that brought the greatest tragedy in human history. Among other things, several documents appear documenting secret visits of Soviet representatives to the German Reich. The documents on the German side are signed with a declaration of loyalty "Heil Hitler".
362 p. Filing holes on the back of the cover. Good condition.
