The Nazi-Soviet Pact

What happened

German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov signed a ten-year nonaggression pact. A secret protocol divided eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence and agreed to partition Poland.

Why it matters

The pact freed Hitler to attack Poland without fear of a two-front war. Less than two years later Germany invaded the Soviet Union, breaking it.

How we know

The public treaty and its secret protocol dividing Poland are documented in the historical record.

Sources

• Holocaust Encyclopedia, USHMM. German-Soviet Pact · General source