Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: Challenging Soviet History

Fülszöveg

On 23rd August 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov and Germán Foreign Minister Ribbentrop finalised negotiations for the Soviet-German Treaty of Non-Aggression or "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact". In addition to the explicit terms of the treaty, a secret protocol was signed which divided Eastern Europe between the respective "spheres of influence" of Hitler's Third Germán Reich and Stalin's Soviet Union. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, the treaty and its secret protocols would provide a blueprint for the Soviet annexation of several countries, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Fifty years after the Pact had sealed the fate of the Baltic States and others, a Soviet commission was förmed to assess its legality and historicai consequences. A number of Estonians were to piay a pivotal role in the outcome. During Christmas 1989, amid increasing popular demonstrations by the Baltic peoples in favour of secession from the Soviet Union, the commission completed a historic... Tovább

Fülszöveg

On 23rd August 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov and Germán Foreign Minister Ribbentrop finalised negotiations for the Soviet-German Treaty of Non-Aggression or "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact". In addition to the explicit terms of the treaty, a secret protocol was signed which divided Eastern Europe between the respective "spheres of influence" of Hitler's Third Germán Reich and Stalin's Soviet Union. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, the treaty and its secret protocols would provide a blueprint for the Soviet annexation of several countries, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Fifty years after the Pact had sealed the fate of the Baltic States and others, a Soviet commission was förmed to assess its legality and historicai consequences. A number of Estonians were to piay a pivotal role in the outcome. During Christmas 1989, amid increasing popular demonstrations by the Baltic peoples in favour of secession from the Soviet Union, the commission completed a historic diplomatic victory which undermined the impenetrable edifice of official Soviet dogma - the Pact and its secret protocols were officially denounced by the highest authorities of the Soviet Union. Within two years the Soviet Union had disintegrated. This book telis the dramatic story of the commission's work. For this second edition (the first translation into English), the complete text of the first edition by Heiki Lindpere, an expert consultant to the 1989 commission, is accompanied by commentary, recollections and interviews concerning the commission's work and events of that period from somé of the people most closely involved. In addition, this edition includes English translations of historic documents central to the story, including the text of the 1939 Pact and Soviet-German correspondence, statements from the 1989 commission, and the speeches which called for an end to the lies and sealed the victory. Vissza