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| German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty | |
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 Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov signs the German–Soviet Pact in Moscow, 28 September 1939; behind him areRichard Schulze-Kossens (Ribbentrop's adjutant),Boris Shaposhnikov (Red Army Chief of Staff), Joachim von Ribbentrop,Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Pavlov (Soviet translator). Alexey Shkvarzev (Soviet ambassador in Berlin), stands next to Molotov. | |
 Map attached to the German–Soviet Treaty dividing Poland into German and Soviet occupation zones |
TheGerman–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty was a second supplementary protocol[1] of theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939.[2] It was a secret clause as amended on 28 September 1939 byNazi Germany and theSoviet Union after theirjoint invasion and occupation of sovereign Poland.[3] It was signed byJoachim von Ribbentrop andVyacheslav Molotov, theforeign ministers of Germany and the Soviet Union respectively, in the presence ofJoseph Stalin. Only a small portion of the protocol, which superseded the first treaty, was publicly announced, while the spheres of influence of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union remained secret. The third secret protocol of the Pact was signed on 10 January 1941 byFriedrich Werner von Schulenburg and Molotov, in which Germany renounced its claims on a part ofLithuania, west of theŠešupė river. Only a few months after this, Germany started itsinvasion of the Soviet Union.[4]
Severalsecret articles were attached to the treaty. These articles allowed forthe exchange of Soviet and German nationals between the two occupied zones of Poland, redrew parts of the central Europeanspheres of interest dictated by theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and also stated that neither party to the treaty would allow on its territory any "Polish agitation" directed at the other party.
During the western invasion of Poland, the GermanWehrmacht had taken control of theLublin Voivodeship and easternWarsaw Voivodeship, territories that the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact had accorded in the Soviet sphere of influence. To compensate the Soviets for that "loss", the treaty's secret attachment transferredLithuania to the Soviet sphere of influence except for a small territory, which was referred to as the "Lithuania Strip", the left bank of theŠešupė River, and was to remain a German sphere of influence.
The Soviet Union signed a Mutual Assistance Treatywith Estonia on September 28,with Latvia on October 5, andwith Lithuania on October 10, 1939. The treaties obliged both parties to respect each other's sovereignty and independence, and allowed the Soviet government to establishmilitary bases in the territory of the three respective Baltic countries.[5] Once established, these Soviet military bases facilitated the full-scaleSoviet invasion and occupation of the Baltic countries in June 1940.
According to provisions outlined in the October 10, 1939Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty, Lithuania also acquired about one fifth of theVilnius Region, including Lithuania's historical capital,Vilnius. The mutual assistance treaties allowed for the 1940 Sovietoccupation of the Baltic states and was described byThe New York Times as a "virtual sacrifice of independence".[6]
For the text of theGerman–Soviet Frontier Treaty see Degras,Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy, iii. 377.
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