Russia at war 1941-1945

friendship. On September 29, before leaving Moscow, Ribbentrop declared in a statement to Tass:

Again this visit to Moscow was too short, and I hope my next visit will last longer.

All the same, we made good use of these two days.

1) German-Soviet friendship is now finally established;

2) Neither country will allow any interference from third parties in East-European affairs;

3) Both countries wish a restoration of peace, and they want Britain and France to stop their absolutely senseless and hopeless war against Germany;

4) If, however, in these countries, the warmongers gain the upper hand, then

Germany and the USSR will know how to react to this.

He then referred to "the great programme of economic cooperation which had been agreed upon and which would be valuable to both countries", and, he concluded: "The talks took place in a particularly friendly and splendid atmosphere. I should like, above all, to stress the extraordinarily cordial reception given me by the Soviet Government and particularly by Herr Staun and Herr Molotov."

[ Pravda, September 30, 1939.]

Looking back on this statement, a number of Russians later told me that it had created a

"rather reassuring impression". Among many Russians there was the hope—or the illusion—that Ribbentrop perhaps belonged to that Ostpolitik faction in Germany who were decidedly against conflict with Russia. That was the impression that Stalin and Molotov also had; they were, moreover, convinced that Ambassador Count Schulenburg

belonged to the old Bismarckian, no-war-with-Russia school of thought. In this they were right. The big question mark was Hitler himself.

On October 8, a week after the Ribbentrop visit to Moscow, Hitler made another peace offer to Britain and France, but it was rejected, again, one suspects, to the Russians'

relief.

The Soviet Press during the weeks following the destruction of Poland makes pretty

nauseating reading. Thus, Pravda of October 17 published an article by David Zaslavsky, an old hack, ironically a Jew, whom Lenin had once described as "the most corrupt pen in Russia":

In all seriousness, though scarcely able to suppress a smile, the French press has informed the world of a sensational piece of news. In Paris in such-and-such a street a new Polish Government has been formed, with General Sikorski at its head. The

territory of this government consists, it appears, of six rooms, a bathroom and a w.c.

Compared with this territory, Monaco is a boundless empire.

In the Great Paris Synagogue, Sikorski addressed the Jewish bankers of Paris. The Synagogue was adorned with a flag with a white eagle, which the Chief Rabbi must

have turned into kosher meat, since this is a bird that orthodox Jews do not, as a rule, use as food.

In former Poland, the Jews used to be frightened to death of the Polish nobility and of pogroms, but the Jewish bankers in Paris had, obviously, nothing to fear from

General Sikorski...

And more witticisms of the same kind; but not a word about the Nazis and Mr

Zaslavsky's own fellow-Jews in "former" Poland. The cartoons in the press were becoming increasingly anti-British and anti-French. Thus Kukryniksy published one

showing a "Capitalist" and a "Social-Democrat" locking a door marked "Democracy" and a "French Communist" peeping through the barred window. The Social-Democrat carried a shield marked "War for Democracy".

It was not till October 31 that Molotov made another speech before the Supreme Soviet—