The Presidential Library’s new interactive project spotlights the beginning of World War II

The Presidential Library’s portal features virtual tour of the historical and documentary exhibition “1939. The beginning of the Second World War”. The exposition, prepared by specialists from the Federal Archival Agency (Rosarkhiv) and the Presidential Library, was opened in the building at Senate Square, 3 in December 2019.

Archival documents, newsreels, photographs spotlight the events that led to a large-scale world conflict, make it possible to understand the reasons for the failure of the creation of 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 virtual exhibition 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 elimination of Czechoslovakia as a sovereign state, to the German attack on Poland on September 1, 1939.

The central theme of the exhibition is the policy of “appeasement” of Hitler, 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-French-Soviet political and military negotiations, which took place in Moscow in June-August 1939, which largely predetermined the alignment of forces in Europe by the beginning of World War II, tells about the evasive position of Great Britain and France on the issue of concluding an equal a military-political alliance, as well as Poland's categorical rejection of Soviet proposals to counter German expansion.

Unique archival documents feature the interests of each of the participants in the future world conflict: the text of the Munich Agreement of 1938, the Anglo-German Agreement and the Franco-German Declaration of 1938, the report of the commander of a separate task force "Silesia" by V. Bortnovsky on the preparation of an offensive operation and the capture of Cieszyn Region in October 1938, personal note of the USSR People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs M. M. Litvinov to the German Ambassador to the USSR F. von der Schulenburg about the impossibility of the Soviet government recognizing the inclusion of the Czech Republic in the Third Reich, a cipher telegram from the USSR Ambassador to Great Britain I. M. Maisky on the results of the Anglo- the Polish talks in London, documents on the Anglo-French "policy of guarantees" and the main approaches to ensuring collective security in Europe.

Of great interest are documents of French origin: a note by the French military attaché in the USSR O.-A. Palace on the strategic situation in Eastern Europe with assessments of the German threat; the report of the French military attaché in Poland F. Musse to the Minister of National Defenсe and the Minister of War of France E. Daladier about the influence of Poland on the course and results of the Anglo-French-Soviet military negotiations.

A key role for understanding the situation that has developed in world politics 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 Defenсe K. E. Voroshilov and the head of the French military mission J. Doumenc.  

A special feature in the exposition is documents on the preparation of Germany for an attack on Poland, the directive of the Wehrmacht's Supreme Command on the unified preparation of the German armed forces for war, the minutes of Hitler's meeting with the leadership of the Wehrmacht on tasks in a future war, intelligence materials of Soviet intelligence about plans of aggression against Poland, information about the concentration and movement of German troops.

The Soviet-German non-aggression pact and the secret additional protocol on the delimitation of the spheres of interests of Germany and the USSR (of August 23, 1939) were also presented.

The virtual exposition presents documents stored in the Russian State Military Archive, the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Film and Photo Archive, as well as the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, the Historical and Documentary Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, the Archive of the President of the Russian Federation, the State Film Fund of the Russian Federation.