Stalin полностью

At the Berghof, having dismissed Henderson, Hitler nervously paced the terrace and sought omens over the majestic Salzburg mountains: the sky was said to go from turquoise to violet to fire red.¹³⁰ For weeks, Stalin had known that a German attack on Poland was imminent, from his intelligence sources, his Berlin chargé d’affaires, Astakhov, and even Schulenburg. Hitler’s recklessness afforded the despot enormous leverage, and he used it. Ribbentrop had sent a formal proposal on spheres of influence on the eve of the French-British military’s arrival in Moscow, but Stalin substituted his own text, which Hitler accepted.¹³¹ The two parties agreed—in the event of an unspecified conflict in Poland—to a mutual demarcation line across the country, right through Warsaw. Germany declared its “disinterest” in Romania’s Bessarabia. Stalin’s sphere of influence also included Finland, Estonia, and Latvia; Hitler was to get Lithuania. But now Stalin wanted Lithuania’s ice-free ports, Liepaja (Libau) and Ventspils (Windau). The talks adjourned so that Ribbentrop could rush to the embassy, where, at 8:05 p.m. Moscow time, he sent a telegram to Hitler, via the German foreign ministry, describing a Soviet request for Libau and Windau as “the decisive point for the final result.” The response came back with Hitler’s assent, and with such rapidity that it shocked his embassy staff.¹³² The Nazi foreign minister had even been authorized, if necessary, to grant a Soviet interest in the Turkish Straits, but Stalin had not thought to make the request.¹³³

By 10:00 p.m. Ribbentrop was back at the Kremlin with Hitler’s latest concession, on Lithuania. In the one alteration to Stalin’s draft that the Führer had been able to introduce, the Pact came into effect immediately upon signing, not ratification. The spheres of influence were written up in a secret protocol: territorially, the Germans got only what they would fight for.

The two sides discussed the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Ribbentrop avowed was not directed against the USSR. He volunteered to bring Berlin’s good graces to bear for improved Soviet-Japanese relations. Stalin replied that there were limits to Soviet patience in the face of Tokyo’s provocations; that the Soviets were ready to go to war if necessary; and that any German approach to Tokyo should not be made to seem a Soviet initiative. On Italy, Stalin inquired whether it might have aspirations beyond small, thinly populated Albania—perhaps for Greek territory. Ribbentrop answered that Albania was not insignificant, and that Mussolini was a strongman who could not be intimidated and welcomed improved German-Soviet relations.¹³⁴ During a break, as the final texts were written up in German and Russian, Stalin, Molotov, and Ribbentrop confirmed their solidarity by trashing the British.¹³⁵

Stalin mentioned that the British foreign office official John Simon, in confidential talks with Germany, had discussed a division of Europe into spheres of influence and had placed Soviet territory into the Nazi sphere. Ribbentrop was taken aback: these conversations were known to only a very narrow circle in Berlin. It was evident that Stalin had spies high up in the German foreign ministry, a problem to be addressed once back home.¹³⁶ For now, shared Anglophobia, undergirded by a shared antiliberalism, like a shared Griff nach der Weltmacht (at British expense), made for a heady cocktail. To the husband of the heiress to the Henkell champagne fortune, Stalin had lifted a glass of Soviet champagne, stating, “I know how much the German people love their Führer, and that is why I have the pleasure of drinking to his health!”¹³⁷ Still, when a giddy Ribbentrop tried to insert an effusive section into the text about German-Soviet friendship, Stalin refused. “Do you not think we should take a little more account of public opinion in both our countries?” he asked Ribbentrop. “For many years now, we have been pouring buckets of shit over each other’s head.”

Signatures were affixed at around 2:00 a.m. on August 24, a mere thirteen hours after Ribbentrop had landed.¹³⁸ He phoned Hitler from Molotov’s office with the news. “Convey my congratulations to Herr Stalin, the Führer of the Soviet people,” Hitler responded.¹³⁹ Stalin did not request the receiver, and Hitler did not ask to speak directly to him. Stalin toasted Hitler (“To the health of the Führer”).¹⁴⁰ Molotov toasted Stalin. “The atmosphere, which had been pleasant, became warmly convivial,” according to a German official present. “The ruler of Russia filled his guests’ glasses himself, offered them cigarettes and even to light them.”¹⁴¹

Photographers had been let in to record the moment for history. Hitler had sent his personal photographer so that the Führer could study Stalin’s surroundings as well as his physiognomy, for Hitler was anxious to ascertain whether Stalin’s earlobes were “ingrown and Jewish, or separate and Aryan”?¹⁴²