German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty

The German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty was a second supplementary protocol[1] of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939.[2] It was a secret clause as amended on 28 September 1939 by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union after their joint invasion and occupation of sovereign Poland.[3] It was signed by Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov, the foreign ministers of Germany and the Soviet Union respectively, in the presence of Joseph Stalin. Only a small portion of the protocol, which superseded the first treaty, was publicly announced, while the spheres of influence of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union remained secret. The third secret protocol of the Pact was signed on 10 January 1941 by Friedrich Werner von Schulenburg and Molotov, wherein Germany renounced its claims to portions of Lithuania, only a few months before their anti-Soviet Operation Barbarossa.[4]

German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty
Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov signs the German–Soviet Pact in Moscow, 28 September 1939; behind him are Richard Schulze-Kossens (Ribbentrop's adjutant), Boris Shaposhnikov (Red Army Chief of Staff), Joachim von Ribbentrop, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Pavlov (Soviet translator). Alexey Shkvarzev (Soviet ambassador in Berlin), stands next to Molotov.
Map attached to the German–Soviet Treaty dividing Poland into German and Soviet occupation zones

Secret articles
German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop signs the German–Soviet Pact, 28 September 1939

Several secret articles were attached to the treaty. These articles allowed for the exchange of Soviet and German nationals between the two occupied zones of Poland, redrew parts of the central European spheres of interest dictated by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and also stated that neither party to the treaty would allow on its territory any "Polish agitation" directed at the other party.

During the western invasion of Poland, the German Wehrmacht had taken control of the Lublin Voivodeship and eastern Warsaw Voivodeship, territories that the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact had accorded in the Soviet sphere of influence. To compensate the Soviets for that "loss", the treaty's secret attachment transferred Lithuania to the Soviet sphere of influence except for a small territory, which was referred to as the "Lithuania Strip", the left bank of the Šešupė River, and was to remain a German sphere of influence.

Aftermath

The Soviet Union signed a Mutual Assistance Treaty with Estonia on September 28, with Latvia on October 5, and with Lithuania on October 10, 1939. The treaties obliged both parties to respect each other's sovereignty and independence, and allowed the Soviet government to establish military bases in the territory of the three respective Baltic countries.[5] Once established, these Soviet military bases facilitated the full-scale Soviet invasion and occupation of the Baltic countries in June 1940.

According to provisions outlined in the 1939 treaty, Lithuania also acquired about one fifth of the Vilnius Region, including Lithuania's historical capital, Vilnius. The mutual assistance treaties allowed for the 1940 Soviet occupation of the Baltic states and was described by The New York Times as "virtual sacrifice of independence".[6]

References
  1. Sharon Korman (1996). The Right of Conquest : The Acquisition of Territory by Force in International Law and Practice. Oxford University Press. p. 167. ISBN 0191583804. Retrieved 25 April 2015. For the text of the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty see Degras, Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy, iii. 377.
  2. Davies 2008, page 30 (ibidem).
  3. Davies, Norman (2008) [1996]. Europe: a History. Oxford University Press, Pan Macmillan. pp. 1001, 1004. ISBN 978-0-19-820171-7.
  4. Britannica (2015). "A secret supplementary protocol (signed September 28, 1939)". German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  5. Hiden & Salmon (1994). p. 110.
  6. Gedye, G.E.R. (1939-10-03). "Latvia Gets Delay on Moscow Terms; Lithuania Summoned as Finland Awaits Call to Round Out Baltic 'Peace Bloc'". The New York Times: 1, 6.
  • Eidintas, Alfonsas; Vytautas Žalys; Alfred Erich Senn (September 1999). Ed. Edvardas Tuskenis (ed.). Lithuania in European Politics: The Years of the First Republic, 1918–1940 (Paperback ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 170. ISBN 0-312-22458-3.
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