292. Gavrilov, Voennaia razvedka informiruet, 357–8 .
293. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 77–8, citing DGFP, XI: 606–10, 652n2 (Nov. 19, 1940), 653–4 (Nov. 18); Filov, Dnevnik, 199.
294. Bartlett, “Embodiment of Myth”; Bartlett, Wagner and Russia, 227, 259–57, 271–2, 288–9. “Even now I can still hear the bewilderment with which Sergei Mikhailovich responded to my telephone call when, without any diplomatic ‘approaches,’ I asked him to stage Wagner’s ‘Walküre’ at the Bolshoi Theatre,” recalled the head of the Bolshoi (Samuil Samosud). “Wagner?!” Eisenstein told him. “But I’ve never put on any opera before . . . let alone Wagner.” Iurenev, Eizenshtein v vospominaniiakh sovremennikov, 310; Eizenshtein, “Tvorcheskaia vstrecha s Vagnerom,” 8. During the Wagner rehearsals, in Oct. 1940, Eisenstein had been appointed director of Mosfilm, the country’s leading studio.
295. It would, however, enjoy a mere six performances. For contrasting assessments, see Kuznetsov, “‘Val’kiriia’ Vagnera v Bol’shom Teatre SSSR,” 76–9; and Iurenev, Eizenshtein v vospominaniiakh sovremennikov, 311 (Sergei Prokofyev).
296. Eizenshtein, “Pered prem’eroi ‘Val’kirii,’” 3.3. On Wagner, see also “Voploshchenie mifa” [Oct. 1940], in Eizenshtein, Izbrannye proizvedeniia, Iskusstvo, 1964–71, IV: 23–4.
297. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 80–1 (citing AVP RF, f. 059, op. 1, pap. 331, d. 2272, l. 167–8: Sobolev to Molotov, Nov. 25, 1940).
298. Na prieme, 319.
299. Dallin and Firsov, Dimitrov and Stalin, 126–34.
300. Banac, Diary of Georgi Dimitrov, 136; Lebedeva and Narinskii, Komintern i vtoraia mirovaia voina, 454; Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 81–2 (citing AMVnR, PREII/i/3 pap. 1, op. 2sh, pop. 1, l. 19: anonymous pamphlet, Nov. 27, 1940).
301. DVP SSSR, XXXIII/ii: 135–7.
302. Berezhkov, At Stalin’s Side, 50–1.
303. Naumov, 1941 god, I: 415–8 (APRF, f. 3, op. 64, d. 675, l. 108–14); Sontag and Beddie, Nazi-Soviet Relations, 217–59; DGFP, XI: 714–5, 1124–5; DVP SSSR, XXIII/ii: 136–7 (APRF, f. 3, op. 64, d. 675, l. 108–16); McMurry, Deutschland und die Sowjetunion, 296; Degras, Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy, III: 477–8.
304. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 79–81 (citing AMVnR, d. 40, p. 34, op. 1sh, pop. 272, l. 246, 248: Stamenov, Nov. 26, 1940; l. 246: AVP RF, f. 059, op. 1, pap. 331, d. 2272, l. 167–8: Sobolev to Molotov, Nov. 25, 1940).
305. Banac, Diary of Georgi Dimitrov, 139. “Consul General in Prague Kulikov came to see me,” Dimitrov also wrote in his diary (Nov. 27). “The Bat’a, Škoda, and other plants are working at full capacity for the German army. In the environs of Prague an enormous aviation factory is being built, which is to produce up to a thousand aircraft a month.” Banac, Diary of Georgi Dimitrov, 138.
306. Kershaw, Hitler: 1936–1945, 342.
307. Halder, Halder Diaries, I: 669–71 (Nov. 1, 1940); Halder, Kriegstagebuch, II: 157–9.
308. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 69–72.
309. Engel, Heeresadjutant bei Hitler, 91 (Nov. 15, 1940), 89–90 (Nov. 4, 1940).
310. Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, III: 442.
311. Engel, Heeresadjutant bei Hitler, 91 (November 15, 1940).
312. Fabry, Die Sowjetunion und das Dritte Reich, 243.
313. For Göring’s objections to an attack on the Soviet Union (at least in Nov. 1940) on economic grounds, see Irving, Hitler’s War, 181–2; Irving, Göring, 307–9. “The Führer is still inclined towards a showdown with Russia. The Commander in Chief, Navy, recommends postponing this until after victory over Britain, since demands on German forces would be too great, and an end to hostilities could not be foreseen.” Fuehrer Conferences, 1940, II: 41 (Nov. 14, 1940). “There are serious doubts as to the advisability of operation ‘Barbarossa’ before the overthrow of Britain” [the Navy’s responsibility]. Fuehrer Conferences, II: 70–1 (Dec. 27, 1940).
314. Halder, Halder Diaries, I: 691–3 (Nov. 16, 1940); Halder, Kriegstagebuch, II: 182–3. Similar sentiments remained in the foreign ministry (Weizsäcker noted to himself on Nov. 28, “War against Russia is impossible as long as we are busy with England, and afterward it will be unnecessary”). Hill, Die Weizsäcker-Papiere, 227. See also ibid., 226 (Nov. 17, 1940).
315. Halder, Kriegstagebuch, II: 184–8 (Nov. 18, 1940).
