Historical and documentary exhibition “1939. The beginning of World War II” showcased at the Presidential Library

The Presidential Library has opened a historical and documentary exhibition “1939. The beginning of World War II”. Archival documents, newsreels, photographs presented at the exposition illustrate events that led to a large-scale world conflict, make it possible to understand the reasons for the failure to create a broad anti-Hitler coalition with the participation of the USSR, as well as the logic of the actions of the Soviet leadership in the current international situation.

The exposition covers the period from the meeting in Munich on September 29-30, 1938 as a result of which the leaders of Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy signed an agreement providing for the liquidation of Czechoslovakia as a sovereign state, until the deepening world political crisis in the summer of 1939 and the German attack on Poland on September 1, 1939.

The key topic the exhibition is Hitler’s “pacification” policy, which led to a radical change in the balance of power on the European continent in favor of Nazi Germany, to the final collapse of the Versailles system of international relations and, ultimately, to the outbreak of World War II. Much attention is paid to the Anglo-Franco-Soviet political and military negotiations held in Moscow in June - August 1939, which largely predetermined the alignment of forces in Europe by the beginning of World War II. It is also told about the evasive position of Great Britain and France on the issue of concluding an equal footing with the USSR a military-political union, as well as Poland’s categorical rejection of Soviet proposals to counteract German expansion.

Unique archival documents demonstrate the interests of each of the participants in the future global conflict: the text of the Munich Agreement of 1938, the Anglo-German Agreement and the Franco-German Declaration of 1938, the report of V. Bortnovsky, the commander of the separate Silesia operational group, about the preparation of the offensive operation and the capture of Tesinsky Region in October 1938, personal note of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR M. Litvinov, German Ambassador to the USSR F. von der Schulenburg about the impossibility of recognition by the Soviet government of the inclusion of the Czech Republic in becoming the Third Reich.

The key role in understanding the situation that has developed in the last pre-war days is played by the recordings of the meetings of the military missions of Great Britain, France and the USSR during the negotiations in Moscow, the recording of the conversation between the USSR people's commissar of defence K. Voroshilov and the head of the French military mission Doumenc.

The exposition displays documents on the preparation of Germany for an attack on Poland, the directive of the Wehrmacht Supreme High Command on the uniform preparation of the German armed forces for war, Soviet intelligence on plans of aggression against Poland.

The Soviet-German non-aggression treaty and the secret additional protocol on delimiting the spheres of interests of Germany and the USSR of August 23, 1939 are also presented at the exhibition.

The exposition features documents stored in the Russian State Military Archive, the Archive of Socio-Political History, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents, as well as in the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Archive of the President of Russia.

The exhibition "1939. The beginning of World War II” will last until January 15, 2020. To visit the exhibition please sign up by phone +7 (812) 334-25-14 or send an email to: excursion@prlib.ru.

Based on the materials of http://www.kremlin.ru/ portal.

Accreditation for media representatives

Please forward applications for accreditation following the attached form with the note “Media accreditation” to the email addresses: media@prlib.ru, hudjakova@prlib.ru Alexandra Khudyakova, tel.: (812) 305-16-21, ext. 167; mob. +7 (981) 788-28-08.

The letter should indicate the name, date and place of birth, passport data (series, number, place of registration), a list of carry-on equipment, contact numbers, the name of the media.

We draw the attention of media representatives that it is necessary to forward applications for accreditation and arrive at the event in advance.

The admittance to the Presidential Library is possible only by prior registration and upon showing a passport: media representatives go through entrance № 2; participants and guests of the event go through the entrance № 1.