The content of the Soviet diplomatic note which the Polish ambassador in Moscow, WacÅ‚aw Grzybowski, received on September 17, 1939, from the People’s Deputy Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Potemkin, was agreed with the Germans.
Von der Schulenburg and his notes
In mid-September, contacts between Berlin and Moscow intensified. The Germans increasingly demanded an immediate USSR attack on Poland, in accordance with the secret protocol of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. On the evening of September 16, Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg, the German ambassador in Moscow, came to the chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR (prime minister) and simultaneously the People’s Commissar (minister) for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov, and made this demand again. In response, he heard that Stalin was currently holding a meeting with his commanders and that the attack would take place soon, and that von der Schulenburg would receive the exact date and time today. At about 2:00, von der Schulenburg was invited to the Kremlin, where Stalin, in the presence of Molotov and the People’s Commissar of Defense Kliment Voroshilov, informed him that at 6:00 in the morning, the Red Army units would cross the Polish-Soviet border.
At the same time, Stalin read to the German ambassador a draft note justifying the Soviet actions, which would soon be read to WacÅ‚aw Grzybowski, the Polish ambassador in Moscow. As von der Schulenburg recalled: “The draft read to me contained three points unacceptable to us. In response to my objections, Stalin with the greatest readiness introduced changes to the text so that the note became possible for us.” Unfortunately, we do not know what points were meant; what the German ambassador agreed to without any problems was the statement that “the Polish state had ceased to exist.”
Stalin and Molotov
After the meeting, Schulenburg informed Berlin of Stalin’s request that German planes did not cross the BiaÅ‚ystok-Brest-Lviv line. The telegram also mentioned sending a Soviet delegation to BiaÅ‚ystok in the coming days and ways of clarifying all military issues.
Stalin and Schulenburg also met on the evening of September 17. The Soviet dictator expressed concerns that German units, which at that time were east of the demarcation line specified in the Ribbentrop-Molotov Treaty (Pissa-Narew-Vistula-San) would violate the terms of the agreement and might not return to the West. The ambassador confirmed that the leaders of the Third Reich wanted to strictly adhere to the agreements and noted that the withdrawal of troops from these territories was in the interests of Nazi Germany, explaining that these soldiers could be sent to the Western Front. Stalin replied that he “did not doubt the good intentions of the German authorities”. Ultimately, after further negotiations, the Soviets “exchanged” the area between the Vistula and Bug, which had been taken over by the Germans, for Lithuania, which had found itself in the “zone of interest” of the USSR.
Janusz Markiewicz
Pictures: IPN (Polish Instutute of National Remembrance) and public domain