Pariahs, partners, predators : German-Soviet relations, 1922-1941 PDF
Preview Pariahs, partners, predators : German-Soviet relations, 1922-1941
Pariahs, Partners, Predators: German-Soviet Relations, 1922-1941 Aleksandr M. Nekrich Edited and translated by Gregory L. Freeze With a foreword by Adam B. Ulam ning Columbia University Press New York Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex Copyright (c) 1997 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nekrich, A. M. (Aleksandr Moiseevich) Pariahs, partners, predators : German-Soviet relations, 1922-1941 / Aleksandr M. Nelkzich : translated by Gregory L. Freeze. . om. TIneliidac t “Li: ig pl . 1 £. d index. ISBN 0-231-10676-9 (alk. paper) 1. Germany—Foreign relations—Soviet Union. 2. Soviet Union— Foreign relations—Germany. 3.e-gxr-ur. I. Title. DD120.S65N45 1997 327.43047'09'042—dc21 96-29605 CIP Casebound editions of Columbia University Press books are printed on AA LI id free naner Printed in the United States of America c 10987654321 Contents FOREWORD Vii ABBREVIATIONS x INTRODUCTION XI Revanchists and Revolutionaries 1 m. German Military Installations inthe USSR 45 bY WpwW. CPrarotsnserrosa ds 103 63 u . Conquests and Conflicts 143 N . Toward the Abyss 207 NOTES 247 BIBLIOGRAPHY 295 INDEX 301 Foreword Adam B. Ulam leksandr Nekrich completed this book shortly Ate his death. A well-known historian in the Soviet Union, he incurred the Communist authorities’ disapproval following the publication of his June 22, 1941 (Moscow, 1965). The book illustrated vividly Stalin's culpa- bility for the Soviet Union's unpreparedness for the German inac- tion, and hence his responsibility for the Red Army’s catastrophic defeats during the first phase of the war. Generally accepted by historians in the West and, after the fall of Communism in Russia, Nekrich’s thesis was taboo in Brezhnev’s USSR. Subjected to chicaneries by the regime, and virtually prohibited from publishing, the author emigrated to the United States in 1976. Shortly after his arrival here, he joined the staff of the Russian Research Center of Harvard University. In 1987 Nekrich was grant- ed the rare distinction of being appointed a Senior Research Fellow of the University. His scholarly activity in America was extensive and many sided. He wrote a great number of learned articles and several books. Two of the latter deserve special mention. The Punished Peoples (1981) was a dramatic description of Stalin’s deportation of entire ethnic groups within the USSR on the pretext of their alleged collabora- tion with Germany during World War II. Utopia in Power (1986), VIL Foreword written with Michel Heller, was a history of the Soviet Union, prob- ably unparalleled in its grasp of the factors affecting the develop- ment of Soviet political culture. Both works were translated into several foreign languages and met with the critical acclaim of the scholarly community. With perestroika and glasnost Nekrich’s works could be read and were praised in his native country. As this is being written, a num- ber of Russian historians are preparing a collection of essays which will be published as homage to their erstwhile colleague and friend. The present book occupied Nekrich’s last years, and he thought of it as the culmination of his life’s work. No doubt the reader may find some of the author's conclusions contentious. But no one, I believe, will question the writer’s scrupulous and imaginative scholarship in dealing with a complex subject. Stricken by a deadly ailment, a type of multiple sclerosis, Alek- sandr Moiseyevich Nekrich died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 31, 1993. Adam B. Ulam Cambridge, Mass. July 1996 Abbreviations ADAP Akten zur deutschen auswdrtigen Politik AVP Arkiv vneshnei politiki Rossiiskoi Federatsii DGFP Documents of German Foreign Policy FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers GARF Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii GEFU Gesellschaft fiir die Forderung gewerblichen Unternehmen KRO Kontr-razvedyvatel’nyi otdel (Counter-intelligence Division) NKVD People’s Commissairate of International Affairs OGPU (GPU) United State Political Administration RGAE Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv ekonomiki RGASA Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv sovetskoi armii RIsKhIDNI Rossiiskii tsendr dlia khraneniia i izucheniia dokumen- tov noveishei istorii Archival Notation f. fond (Collection) op. opis’ (register) d. delo (file) 1., I. list, listy, (folio, folios) ob. oborot (verso) Introduction eneral interest in Soviet-German relations between ‘oe: two world wars, while strong in the postwar period, sharply declined in the 1970s and 1980s. Of late, however, interest in this topic, and especially in the origins of the German attack on the USSR in 1941, has revived. Although the revival was partly evoked by the fiftieth anniversary of the attack, of greater importance was the movement for national inde- pendence in the Baltic states, which quite naturally took a keen interest in the secret clauses of the German-Soviet pacts that pre- ceded their annexation by the USSR in 1940. The question of the authenticity of these documents even appeared on the agenda of the supreme legislative organs of the Soviet Union; it also became the subject of numerous books and articles, accompanied by a gush of documentary publications. This subject has long been treated, indeed quite exhaustively, in the West; only recently have the most fundamental sources become generally available to professional his- torians and a concerned public in the former USSR. These new documents and analysis had a dramatic impact on the educated Russian public. As is well known, when Soviet historiog- raphy had to deal with ideologically sensitive problems, it either omitted essential facts or distorted them beyond recognition. It also dismissed foreign sources as either dubious or outright fabrications.
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