The hammer and sickle will not be friends with the swastika
After the First World War, Germany and the USSR were long-term trade partners: they were united by hostility with the Western countries of the former Entente, so the government of the Weimar Republic was ready to turn a blind eye to the communist ideas of the Soviet Union. In 1926, the countries agreed to maintain military neutrality towards each other, and German tank crews trained for many years at the Reichswehr Kama school near Kazan – created to circumvent the restrictions of the peace treaty with the Entente. By 1927, trade turnover between the USSR and Germany had increased to 433 million Reichmarks per year, which was especially important for the Soviet side due to chronic foreign exchange shortages.
French cartoon of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Michael Nicholson/Corbis/Getty Images
All this came to nothing with the coming to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in 1933-1934. According to their doctrine, the communists were the existential enemy of the Aryan race, which was one of the assumptions of international Jewry.
The Nazis did not pay much attention to the Russians and other Slavic peoples, but considered them inferior people who occupied the “living space” that was crucial for Germany in the east.
This did not mean a physical shortage of living space and agricultural land, but the monetary concept of Lebensraum. (German: “living space”)its importance was discussed only by abstract philosophy. Based on this position, there was little ground left for negotiations between the USSR and Germany.
Things were heading towards war, and in the second half of the 1930s, Germany was seen as the main enemy and most likely military rival of the USSR. Soviet military experts helped the Spanish Republic fight the German Condor Legion, fighting on the side of General Franco in the civil war; in addition, the Union considered options for military assistance to Czechoslovakia during the Sudetenland crisis of 1938 – as a result, Great Britain forced Prague to surrender the territories to Hitler. The intensity of the confrontation even affected popular cinema: in the 1938 film “Alexander Nevsky” the Teutonic Order clearly shows the features of the 20th-century Reich, and one of the main negative characters, a Catholic priest, wears a headdress with a swastika.
“Strange Bedfellows”
The situation changed abruptly in the spring and summer of 1939, on the eve of World War II.
Fighting on two fronts had been a nightmare for Germany in 1914–1917, but now it meant death for the much weaker and less prepared Reich. Britain, France, and the USSR were negotiating a joint struggle against the Nazis, but the dialogue was complicated by the West’s perception that the Red Army was critically weakened by the Great Terror and did not expect real help from it. The parties also could not agree on the status of the Baltic states and on guarantees for the passage of Soviet troops through Poland to fight the Germans.
Against the background of difficult negotiations in May 1939, Stalin took an unexpected step: he removed Maxim Litvinov, who supported rapprochement with the West and the Jews, from the post of People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs and appointed Vyacheslav Molotov, whose position was more flexible. The first step in the new policy towards Germany was the development of an economic agreement: the USSR needed technology and machinery, and the Germans, first of all, needed natural resources and fuel.
The German-Soviet trade agreement was signed on 19 August, marking the final step towards a non-aggression pact.
Hitler promised to “take into account everything that the USSR wants” – he was in a hurry: the date for the attack on Poland had already been set, it was impossible to postpone it until late autumn because of the rains, which would slow down the offensive. Ensure the movement of troops and repel the blitzkrieg.
Joseph Stalin and Joachim von Ribbentrop after signing the non-aggression pact in the Kremlin, 23 August 1939
Federal Archives
On August 23, two Focke-Wulf Condor passenger planes landed in Moscow. A large Nazi delegation, led by Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, arrived and was given a fitting welcome: the orchestra played the German anthem, and the hosts placed the famous red German flag, with an ancient Hindu symbol in black in a white circle, on the flagpole. Negotiations began in an extremely alarming atmosphere – the Germans complained that NKVD agents were after them, and when the pilot Hans Baur tried to tip the Russian driver, he shouted angrily: “Why did I try to tip the guests?” They were well received and grateful. Are they trying to put me in jail?
The non-aggression pact and its secret protocol were signed on the day of arrival. And if the essence of the first is clear from its name, then the second summarizes the fact that: Germany recognized the Baltic states, eastern Poland (now western Ukraine and Belarus), and Bessarabia (Moldova) as zones of interest of the USSR and refused to interfere with any Soviet policy in these regions.
Even the public part of the deal shocked the world. Moscow-based American journalist John Gunther I remembered“Nothing more incredible could have been imagined. Astonishment and skepticism quickly gave way to fear and alarm.” Numerous caricatures were published in Western publications, in which Hitler and Stalin were called “strange partners”, as the communist USSR was seen as the antipode and the worst enemy of the Nazis.
A week later, German troops crossed the Polish border and World War II began.
Not an alliance, but a tactical maneuver
Historical fiction literature sometimes mentions a hypothetical alliance between Germany and the Stalinist USSR. This alternative history idea is often based on actual negotiations between the USSR and the Germans in 1940. Thus, in November, Ribbentrop sent the Soviets a draft agreement on the division of spheres of influence in the world between four powers: the Reich, the Soviet Union, Italy and Japan. According to the project, the USSR was asked to look south, towards India and Persia, so as not to interfere with the Germans’ domination of Europe.
But a closer examination of the document reveals that these negotiations were merely a tactical game carried out by Hitler. Ribbentrop was a supporter of rapprochement with the USSR and a joint struggle against Great Britain. For the Führer, the situation was exactly the opposite: he respected the British Empire and hoped to impose some kind of agreement on it, but he saw the communists as a threat that the world needed to be physically cleansed of. Immediately after the defeat of France in the spring of 1940, he declared that he was now free for a truly important task – the confrontation with Bolshevism.
Wehrmacht in Paris, June 14, 1940
Deutsche Zeitung Photo/Global Look Press
But it was necessary to prepare for war, and for this we had to gain time. Therefore, he did not interfere with Ribbentrop’s initiative, but he never considered the possibility of peace with the USSR. During the discussion of the agreement on the sharing of spheres of influence, Hitler wrote In internal communiqués: “Political negotiations have begun to clarify Russia’s position for the near future. Regardless of the outcome of these negotiations, all the preparations previously made verbally in the east must continue. [Письменные] “Directives in this direction will come after the main elements of the Army’s operational plan are presented to me and approved by me.”
The negotiations were therefore merely a deception, a smokescreen set up for intelligence purposes and designed to mislead the Soviet leadership.
Stalin himself Hitler in the name was a cold-blooded blackmailer and “German victory [на западе] It has become unbearable for Russia” and the USSR “must be brought to its knees as soon as possible.”
Therefore, alternative historical ideas about friendship between the USSR and Germany are absurd, because they miss the essential part of Hitler’s worldview – anti-communism and contempt for Russia.
There was no way to reach an agreement with him on this issue, or to calm him down. The moment the Führer came to power, war became inevitable.
What are you thinking?
Source: Gazeta
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.