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The Secret Protocols to the M-R Pact Did NOT Plan Any Partition ofPoland

Up to at least September 7 Hitler was considering making peace with Poland if Polandsued for peace. General Franz Halder, Chief of the General Staff of the Army (Chef desGeneralstabs des Heeres), wrote in his "War Diary" -- Halder F.Kriegstagebuch.T�gliche Aufzeichnungen des Chefs des Generalstabes des Heeres 1939-1942. Stuttgart:W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1962-1964. I have usedBand I. Vom Polenfeldzug bis zum Ende derWestoffensive (14.8.1939 - 30.6.1940).

Soon September 7 Hitler was considering independence for Western Ukraine eventhough, according to the "Secret Protocol" of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact theWestern Ukraine lay within the Soviet sphere of influence. This shows that:

1. The Secret Protocol about spheres of influence was not about the "partition of Poland."

Hitler was prepared to negotiate over the Western Ukraine with the Poles, not with theSoviets. The Western Ukraine lay entirely within the Soviet "sphere ofinfluence" as defined by the Secret Protocol of the M-R Pact.

2. Hitler was not planning to liquidate the Polish state as late as September 7.

In his entries for September 9 and September 10 Halder repeats that the Germans arediscussing the formation of an independent state in the Western Ukraine. This is furtherevidence that the Secret Protocols of the M-R Pact did not concern any "partition ofPoland."

September 9:

OB vormerken: … b) Selbstst�ndigkeit der West-Ukraine. (I, S. 67)

Bring to the attention of the Supreme Command: ... b) The independence of the Western Ukraine.

September 10:

Warlimont: a) Aufruf Westukraine kommt. (I, S. 68)

Warlimont: a) A call to the Western Ukraine is imminent.

Col. Walter Warlimont was deputy head of operations at the German HighCommand. A note in the annotated text of Halder's diary reads:

N�mlich f�r die Errichtung eines selbst�ndiges Staates aus der polnischenUkraine. (I, S. 68 Anm. 6)

That is, for the setting up of an independent state out of Polish Ukraine.

Under September 11 Halder noted that:

Grenz�bertritt polnischeraktiver Soldaten nach Rum�nien hat begonnen.(I, S. 71)

The flight ofactivePolish soldiers[= combat troops] into Rumania has begun.

On September 12 Halder noted: "Talks between the High Command and theFuehrer" and said:

ObdH-F�hrer: Russe will wahrscheinlich nicht antreten…. [Russe] halt Friedenswunsch Polens f�r m�glich. (I, S. 72)

The Russian apparently does not want to come in…. [The Russian] believes it possible that Poland wants [to conclude a] peace [with Germany].

This is proof thatthe Germans had no agreement with the USSR to partition Poland.

It is also evidence thatthe USSR expected that a negotiated settlement would leavea rump Polish state in existence between Germany and the Soviet border.

Halder also noted:

Rum�nien will polnische Regierung nich aufnehmen; [Grenzen] zumachen. (I, S. 72)

Rumania does not wish to accept [the entry of] the Polish government; will close [its borders].

[Hitler] denkt an sich bescheiden mit Ost-Oberschlesien und Korridor, wenn Westen wegbleibt. (I, S. 72)

He [Hitler] is prepared to be content with the Eastern part of Upper Silesia and the Polish Corridor, if the West doesn't interfere.

This would have meant that most of Western Poland would have remained part of ashrunken Poland. This is additional evidence thatHitler did not plan on liquidatingthe Polish state.

By September 12 the issue of whether the Polish government might try to flee to Rumaniahad obviously been raised, but it had not yet happened.

This means thaton September 12 Hitler still believed the Polish governmentwould stay in Poland - because he assumed he would have someone to negotiate peace with.

The same dateGeneral Wilhelm Keitel, Head of the Supreme Command ofthe Armed Forces (Chef des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht) ordered Admiral Canaristo activate units of the OUN on Polish territory with the aimof forming an independent Polish andGalician Ukraine.

This was to be accompanied by a general massacre of communists, Poles and Jews. Duringpost-war interrogation by Soviet authorities General-major Erwin von Lahousen of theAbwehr(German Military Intelligence) said:

Germany No LongerRecognized the Existence of Poland

By September 15 German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was writing to FriedrichWerner von der Schulenburg, German ambassador to Moscow, that if the USSR did not enterEastern Poland militarily there would be a political vacuum in which "newstates" might form:

Ribbentrop no longer referred to "Poland", only to "...the area lying tothe east of the German zone of influence…" This shows that he considered thatthe Polish government was no longer functioning - no longer had sovereignty even in theEast where there were no German forces and where the Soviets had not yet entered.

Schulenburg reported this to Molotov and summarized Molotov's reply (to Ribbentrop) thenext day, September 16:

Soeven if the USSR had disagreed with the Germans and had held to the positionthat a Polish state still existed, the Soviets would have to deal with the fact thatGermany no longer did. Germany considered that there was no longer a Polish state, andtherefore the Secret Protocol about spheres of influence, agreed upon in the SecretProtocol to the M-R Pact a few weeks earlier, was no longer in effect.

Germany felt it was now free either to occupy what had been Eastern Polandright up to the Soviet border. Or - as we now know Hitler was planning - to form one ormore pro-Nazi, anti-Soviet puppet states there. The USSR simply could not permit either ofthese outcomes.

German General Kurt von Tippelskirch, in hisGeschichte des Zweiten Weltkrieges(Bonn, 1954) wrote: