The world will soon mark the 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II, the most tragic event in human history and one that radically changed the worldwide geopolitical situation. This was a war that greatly surpassed World War I in terms of the number of human (especially civilian) deaths and the degree of cruelty, savagery, and devastation.
In both quantitative and qualitative terms, Germany and the USSR used new weapons and new types of operations and tested and applied unprecedented totalitarian techniques. The war resulted in an unheard-of human catastrophe that caused not only mass-scale executions, deportations, and famine-induced deaths in besieged cities but also the ruination of human souls, the still ongoing decline of morality, de-Christianization, increased mistrust and cynicism, and the black existential void that affected the postwar generations.
The history of World War II is known quite well, although the Kremlin still keeps some documents under a veil of secrecy. Why are we returning over and over again to this global disaster today, three generations later? There are several serious reasons why we are still peering into the faded but still horrifying, infernal pictures of the war: our indirect emotional participation in the remote events, a desire to better understand the secret mechanisms of how this pandemic of deaths and sorrows emerged, developed, and befell our forefathers.
However, there is one more and relatively new factor that compels us to turn again to the wartime events — the leadership of a certain country is itching to rewrite the tragic and contradictory pages, offer its own one-dimensional version of history, and impose a warped, mythologized model of World War II on its own society and other nations. This is being ostensibly done to extol and glorify the role of the Soviet Union and its wise leadership (as if somebody doubts the importance of Soviet efforts on the Eastern Front and forgets millions of human deaths).
In reality, we (I mean Ukrainians and our view of the war) are invited to take part in an Orwellian, totalitarian propaganda ploy to brainwash, above all, the generations that remember neither the war nor the tough postwar years (they are in the majority) and perceive the characters of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings as being much more realistic and easier to grasp than Hitler and Stalin.
I am speaking about Russia — this country has unleashed a modern-day ideological war regarding World War II.
Without laying claim to extensive coverage of the unfathomable subject named in the article’s headline, I would only like to touch upon some aspects that are worthy of our attention and memory. I am sure that the newspaper will continue to focus on this topic.
1. OPERATION GLEIWITZ
…Roaming all day long across Upper Silesia on a Syrena clunker (back in the 1970s), we were surprised to see idyllic pastoral landscapes among the mines and factories of this highly industrialized area. Only in the evening, as we crossed the invisible former border of the Reich, we approached the city of Gliwice. We could see in the dusk, among the trees, some typical German houses — somber, dark-grey, with tall brown slated roofs. A wooden radio mast, the fruit of German engineering art, towered high into the sky. There was an air of peace and serenity after a sizzling day.
It is here that, in the official version, World War II began. On the night of August 31, 1939, a few plainclothes SS men seized the Gleiwitz radio station on what was then border with Poland. Simulating an attack of Polish Silesian insurgents, they neutralized a small German security unit and the personnel of the station, which relayed broadcasts from Wroclaw (Breslau), and attempted to announce that Poland was beginning a war against Germany. The attackers’ commander SS Sturmbannf hrer Alfred Naujocks had received orders from SS Gruppenf hrer Reinhard Heydrich, who followed a personal instruction of Adolf Hitler.
Fumbling with transmitter controls, the SS men cried out a few Polish phrases into the microphone and quickly sneaked away like thieves, leaving behind the body of a Pole, Franciszek Honiok: they had brought him, stupefied and unconscious, to the radio station and shot him there. This was supposed to be proof of the Polish crime against a radiant and peace-loving Germany. Honiok is considered to be the first victim of World War II.
2. THE WORLD WAR BEGAN IN UKRAINE
Many historians (as well as this writer) believe that World War II began not in Poland but on the territory of Carpatho-Ukraine, an independent Ukrainian state which was proclaimed on March 14, 1939, and existed for four days only — as long as Carpathian Sich Riflemen were able to resist the numerically superior regular Hungarian troops armed with tanks, mortars, and aircraft.
Krasne Pole, on the right bank of the Tisa near Khust, the venue of the main battle between the Sich Riflemen and the Hungarians, became the second Ukrainian Berestechko.
The Ukrainian casualties were 230 dead and 400 wounded. The Sich Riflemen commanders Mykhailo Kolodzynsky (Colonel Huzar) and Zynovii Kosak were seriously wounded, taken prisoners, and eventually killed. They also have the right to be considered some of the first victims of World War II.
It will be interesting for young readers, to whom World War II is as remote as the Battle of Thermopylae, to learn that Ukrainian problems were actively debated on the international level in 1938—1939 and the word ‘Ukraine’ quite often occurred in the reports of world information agencies and in diplomatic coded messages. There was a big-time game on the eve of the war between Germany, the Soviet Union, Poland, Britain, and France, and, Ukraine, in addition to Czechoslovakia, wasone of its bargaining chips.
Suffice it to read a few diplomatic messages of the time to see in what murky quagmire of hypocrisy, mutual hatred, mistrust, and incitement the participants of that prewar struggle — the future triumphant winners and losers — floundered about.
Sir Horace Wilson, a close associate of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, Nov. 21, 1938: “There is no threat of war for Britain in the nearest future, for Hitler is going to carry out the next major strike against Ukraine. The technique will be approximately the same as in the case of Czechoslovakia.”
Hugues de Montbas, French Charg d’Affaires in Germany, Dec. 6, 1938: “Hitler’s plan about Ukraine is to try to create, if possible, with the help of Poland which will be offered a condominium of sorts, something like a European Manchukuo in vassalage.”
Adolf Hitler, Jan. 5, 1939: “The world press is trying to ascribe to Germany some intentions about Ukraine. In this respect, Poland should in no way be cautious of Germany. Germany has no interests whatsoever on the other side of the Carpathians and is indifferent to what the countries interested in those regions are doing there.”
J zef Bek, Polish Foreign Minister, Jan. 5, 1939: “Poland regards agitators on the Carpatho-Ukrainian territory as her old enemies and is afraid that Carpatho-Ukraine may turn into a hotbed of tension… This is the reason why Poland intends to establish a common border with Hungary…The population of the so-called Carpatho-Ukraine — the Ruthenians — have nothing to do with the population of Ukraine proper. Ukraine is a Polish word that means ‘eastern frontiers.’”
Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Reichsminister of Foreign Affairs, Jan. 6, 1939: “We are interested in Soviet Ukraine only because we have been doing Russians harm wherever we can, and they’ve been doing the same to us. So we are maintaining constant contacts with Russian Ukraine. We have never had anything to do with Polish Ukrainians; we have been strictly avoiding this. The root of evil is that anti-Russian sedition in Ukraine always produces the opposite effect on Polish and Ukrainian ethic minorities in Carpathian Ruthenia. This can only be changed if Poland and we fully cooperate in the Ukrainian question. Once all the problems between Poland and us are largely settled, it will be possible to agree on considering the Ukrainian question as a privilege of Poland and fully support the latter in tackling this problem.”
Lord Halifax, British Foreign Secretary, Jan. 28, 1939: “As early as November, there were indications… that Hitler was planning a further foreign adventure for the spring of 1939. At first it appeared… that he was thinking of expansion in the East, and in December the prospect of establishing an independent Ukraine under German vassalage was freely spoken of in Germany. Since then reports indicate that Hitler, encouraged by Ribbentrop, Himmler, and others, is considering an attack on the Western Powers as a preliminary to subsequent action in the East.”
Both Hitler and Stain temporarily closed the Ukrainian “question” in 1938—1939. Hitler again duped the Western democracies and deliberately provoked a fuss over Ukraine as a disguise. Then he finally seized Czechoslovakia, which was humiliated by the 1938 Munich treachery, without a single gunshot in March 1939, dismembered the ill-fated country, and reached the strategic border of the now doomed Poland. Leaving Carpatho-Ukraine to the tender mercies of Hungary in exchange for the Hungarian dictator Mikl s Horthy joining the Axis on Feb. 29, 1939, Hitler helped the Polish government achieve its dream — “a common border” with Hungary.
In his turn, speaking on March 10, 1939 (four days before the Hungarian invasion of Carpatho-Ukraine), at the 18th Congress of VKP(b), Stalin sent Hitler a positive signal from the topmost Kremlin podium, accusing the Anglo-French and North American press of whipping up tension around the Carpatho-Ukraine question and intending “to stir up the Soviet Union’s rage against Germany, poison the atmosphere, and provoke a conflict with Germany for no apparent reason.”
This, in fact, triggered a tumultuous affair between Stalin and Hitler: within just a few months they became conspirers and accomplices in the destruction of Poland and allies in the early stage of World War II.
3. TOASTING HITLER
Berlin sent Moscow the first cautious signals on its desire to improve German-Soviet relations in early 1939 — it was about a trade agreement. The German Ambassador to the USSR, Count von Schulenburg, made it clear to Deputy People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs V. P. Potiomkin on Feb. 18, 1939, that Berlin was prepared to considerably broaden the scope of trade and reduce the trade credit interest rate. USSR People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs Maxim Litvinov noted that the Western powers were trying to set Hitler against the East: go east or else we will join forces with it against you. “I will not be surprised if Hitler makes similar gestures to us in response,” the people’s commissar said prophetically.
Negotiating with British and French envoys, Stalin began to take a closer look at Hitler, for he mistrusted the Western democracies like a paranoid, remembering the Civil War experience and especially the way they had betrayed Czechoslovakia in Munich.
Still loyal to the Leninist revolutionary idea of setting fire to, ruining, and taking hold of Europe — if not by means of communist parties then by way of legally dispatching “limited contingents” of Soviet troops to the adjacent countries — Stalin was deeply disappointed with the position of the Anglo-French delegation that was holding talks in Moscow and the refusal of a number of countries, above all, Poland, to let the Red Army march across their territory.
Overestimating his genius and perfidy, Stalin began to play with Hitler: this was an encounter of the 20th century’s two really diabolic forces, two systems of enslavement and human extermination, and two different and yet equally villainous ways of thinking — rational and cruel (Stalinist) and intuitive-devilish (Hitlerite). Two schools came into a close contact. The first one was the well-disciplined Prussian militarist machine reinforced by merciless young SS thugs, who had adopted a no-holds-barred to their enemies and had already had their basic training in the Holocaust and concentration camps. The second one was a bunch of Stalin’s henchmen unquestionably loyal to their chief, who had under their belt the 1933 Holodomor, mass-scale repressions, extermination of top Red Army officers, and killings of millions of innocent victims in the name of a radiant future.
Nobody — neither Shakespeare, nor Tolstoy, nor Dostoevsky (a rabid anti-Semite whose portrait hung in Hitler’s office) — could even dream of these ominous pictures that foreboded a worldwide eclipse.
In a generous Georgian-style gesture, Stalin presented Hitler with the first gift — the dismissal of the USSR People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs Maxim Litvinov, a confirmed antifascist, a Jew, a relatively independent and, hence, dangerous person who irritated both the Leader and the F hrer.
On May 3, 1939, the people’s commissar’s office was assumed by Viacheslav Molotov, the Leader’s trusted and die-hard lieutenant who concurrently served as Chairman of the USSR Council of People’s Commissars and was one of those who masterminded the Holodomor in Ukraine. Conversely, Hitler did not fire any of his cutthroats to please Stalin. He only ordered the Reich’s mass media to tone down anti-Soviet, anti-communist, and anti-Stalinist propaganda.
The first mediator between these two Princes of Darkness and the first victim of the Stalin-Hitler conspiracy was the USSR Charg d’Affaires in Germany, Georgy Astakhov. He was born in Kyiv to a noble Cossack family, graduated from Moscow University’s Faculty of Romance and Germanic Languages, and joined the RKP(b) in 1918. He was also a well-known Orientalist, a career diplomat, and, presumably, Lavrenty Beria’s agent in the USSR People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs.
Considering Astakhov’s unquestionable intellect and perfect command of German (and other languages), Germans trusted him more than the Soviet Ambassador to Germany, A. F. Merekalov, a poorly educated engineer who had worked at a refrigerating plant. It is Astakhov who was destined to undertake an extremely difficult — both diplomatically and morally — mission to be Moscow’s and Berlin’s confidant in the preparation of the Stalin-Hitler collusion, one of the 20th century’s most shameful acts.
Astakhov was recommended to be posted to Berlin by Litvinov and perhaps shared the latter’s views. Astakhov’s secret correspondence with Moscow lasted very briefly — from May 9 until Aug. 13, 1939. We must do credit to the professionalism of the Soviet diplomat who very precisely conveyed the thoughts of his interlocutors (including Germany’s topmost diplomats, such as Ribbentrop, Weizs cker, Schnurre, Stumm, Schulenburg, and others) and tactfully interpreted the received information, trying to foresee the future turn of the events. You can sometimes feel his skepticism about German promises.
His trouble was that he knew very much. This was fatally dangerous knowledge. His fate was sealed shortly before the final deal was struck: on Aug. 15, 1939, when Schulenburg asked Molotov if further talks could be continued in Berlin (naturally, with the participation of Astakhov), the people’s commissar coldly rejected this idea, saying that “we consider Astakhov insufficiently experienced (!), and we thus believe that the negotiations should be held here.”
On August 19 Astakhov was called back to Moscow and dismissed from the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs in December 1939. On Feb. 27, 1940, he was arrested and charged with involvement in a “right-wing plot” at the commissariat and spying for Poland (!). He pleaded not guilty. On July 9, 1941, when Germans were advancing deep into the Soviet territory, Astakhov was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment and died in a prison camp on Feb. 15, 1942.
Astakhov was, of course, just an episodic character, an undesirable witness in this drama. The main actors in this criminal collusion with the Nazis were Stalin and Molotov. At the very beginning of the negotiations (May, 20, 1939), Stalin’s people’s commissar unexpectedly proposed to Schulenburg that the political groundwork be laid for successful economic relations. A few days later Schulenburg told Molotov that the German government wanted not only to normalize but also to improve its relations with the USSR. He added that he had made this statement on the instruction of Ribbentrop and with the knowledge and consent of Hitler.
Germans were in a hurry: in April they had approved a plan for attacking Poland (Plan Weiss) under which the operation was to begin on Sept. 1, 1939. Speaking to the Reich’s top military command, the F hrer clearly outlined the main goals, emphasizing that the point was not in Danzig — Poland had to be eliminated because Poles were the avowed enemy of Germany.
The objective was to isolate Poland.
This could only be done with the help of the Soviets. This is why the Germans “worked” with Stalin and Molotov with devilish zeal. They tried to persuade their Soviet “friends” that:
— The German government believed that there was not a single problem between the Baltic and the Black seas that could not be solved to the profound satisfaction of both countries. This includes the questions of the Baltic Sea, the Baltic states, Poland (!), South East, etc.;
— German and Soviet politics was at a critical historical juncture. The political decisions that had soon to be made in Berlin and Moscow would be of paramount importance for the development of relations between the German people and the peoples of the USSR for generations to come (!);
— The governments of Germany and the USSR had to take into account that Western capitalist democracies were implacable enemies of both National Socialist Germany and the Soviet Union.
The above lines are fragments of the memorandum that Schulenburg handed in to Molotov on Aug. 15, 1939, which suggested — or, rather, demanded — that Ribbentrop be immediately received in Moscow.
The war was 16 days away. Two days later Molotov gave a positive answer, warning the German ambassador: “Comrade Stalin is in the picture and has approved of the answer.” Molotov also proposes signing a non-aggression pact and (attention!) a secret protocol on “foreign policy matters” that were of interest to both countries. Molotov was asking the Germans not to make too much fuss over Ribbentrop’s visit.
Schulenburg communicated straightforwardly that the conflict between Germany and Poland would break out in a few days and insisted again that Ribbentrop arrive as soon as possible.
At last, on August 21, Hitler took an unprecedented step by sending a personal letter to his main ideological and political enemy, Joseph Stalin. The letter said that “tension between Germany and Poland is now intolerable. Poland shows such behavior toward a great power that a crisis can erupt any day… So I again suggest that you receive my minister of foreign affairs on Tuesday, August 22.” This sounded like an ultimatum.
Stalin agreed.
On August 23, Ribbentrop and his aide arrived in Moscow on board two heavy Condor transport airplanes. The German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was signed on the night of August 24, as was a secret additional protocol that clearly delineated the spheres of political interests of both aggressors in the Baltic region and Poland. The text included a Jesuitically-sounding formula: “The question of whether it is desirable in the mutual interests to retain an independent Polish state (!) can be resolved only in the course of further political developments,” i.e., in the course of the coordinated military actions of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army.
A coded message came from the German embassy to Berlin: “On the night of Aug. 24, 1939, in the course of the talks, Herr Stalin spontaneously proposed the following toast to the F hrer: ‘I know how much German people love their F hrer, so I would like to drink to his good health...’ Henke.”
At 2 a.m., September 1, Stalin received a coded message from the Soviet Embassy in Berlin: Polish servicemen allegedly broke into the radio station of the German town of Gleiwitz, killed several German employees, and read out in Polish a text that contained a call for war.
A bloody dawn was breaking over Europe. The papers and maps approved and signed by Hitler and Stalin turned into the horrible reality of a war: the howling of diving bombers, the rumbling of tanks, the roaring of artillery, thousands of corpses in the fields, cities and villages, endless refugees on the roads…
