The Reich
Foreign Minister to the German Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Schulenburg)
Telegram
VERY URGENT
BERLIN, June 21, 1941.
STATE SECRET
BY radio
For the Ambassador personally.
1) Upon receipt of this telegram, all of
the cipher material still there is to be destroyed. The radio set is to be put
out of commission.
2) Please inform Herr Molotov at once that
you have an urgent communication to make to him and would therefore like to
call on him immediately. Then please make the following declaration to him.
"The Soviet Ambassador in Berlin is
receiving at this hour from the Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs a memorandum
giving in detail the facts which are briefly summarized as follows:
"I. In 1939 the Government of the
Reich, putting aside grave objections arising out of the contradiction between
National Socialism and Bolshevism, undertook to arrive at an understanding with
Soviet Russia. Under the treaties of August 23 and September 28, 1939, the
Government of the Reich effected a general reorientation of its policy toward
the U.S.S.R. and thenceforth adopted a cordial attitude toward the Soviet
Union. This policy of goodwill brought the Soviet Union great advantages in the
field of foreign policy.
"The Government of the Reich therefore
felt entitled to assume that thenceforth both nations, while respecting each
other's regime and not interfering in the internal affairs of the other
partner, would arrive at good, lasting, neighborly relations. Unfortunately it
soon became evident that the Government of the Reich had been entirely mistaken
in this assumption.
"II. Soon after the conclusion of the
German-Russian treaties, the Comintern resumed its subversive activity against
Germany, with the official Soviet-Russian representatives giving assistance.
Sabotage, terrorism, and espionage in preparation for war were demonstrably
carried out on a large scale. In all the countries bordering on Germany and in
the territories occupied by German troops, anti-German feeling was aroused and
the German attempt to set up a stable order in Europe was combated. Yugoslavia
was gladly offered arms against Germany by the Soviet Russian Chief of Staff,
as proved by documents found in Belgrade. The declarations made by the U.S.S.R.
on conclusion of the treaties with Germany, regarding her intention to
collaborate with Germany, thus stood revealed as deliberate misrepresentation
and deceit and the conclusion of the treaties themselves as a tactical maneuver
for obtaining arrangements favorable to Russia. The guiding principle remained
the weakening of the non-Bolshevist countries in order the more easily to
demoralize them and, at a given time, to crush them.
"III. In the diplomatic and military
fields it became obvious that the U.S.S.R.-contrary to the declaration made at
the conclusion of the treaties that she did not wish to Bolshevize and annex
the countries falling within her sphere of influence-was intent on pushing her
military might westward wherever it seemed possible and on carrying Bolshevism
further into Europe. The action of the U.S.S.R. against the Baltic States,
Finland, and Rumania, where Soviet claims even extended to Bucovina, showed
this clearly. The occupation and Bolshevization by the Soviet Union of the
sphere of influence granted to her clearly violated the Moscow agreements, even
though the Government of the Reich for the time being accepted the facts.
"IV. When Germany, by the Vienna Award
of August 30, 1940, settled the crisis in Southeastern Europe resulting from
the action of the U.S.S.R. against Rumania, the Soviet Union protested and
turned to making intensive military preparations in every field. Germany's
renewed effort to achieve an understanding, as reflected in the exchange of
letters between the Reich Foreign Minister and Herr Stalin and in the
invitation to Herr Molotov to come to Berlin, brought demands from the Soviet
Union which Germany could not accept, such as the guarantee of Bulgaria by the
U.S.S.R., the establishment of a base for Soviet Russian land and naval forces
at the Straits, and the complete abandonment of Finland. Subsequently, the
policy of the U.S.S.R. directed against Germany became more and more obvious.
The warning addressed to Germany regarding occupation of Bulgaria and the declaration
made to Bulgaria after the entry of German troops, which was of a definitely
hostile nature, were as significant in this connection as was the promise to
protect the rear of Turkey in the event of a Turkish entry into the war in the
Balkans, given in March 1941.
"V. With the conclusion of the
Soviet-Yugoslav Treaty of Friendship of April 5 last, which was intended to
stiffen the spines of the Yugoslav plotters, the U.S.S.R. joined the common
Anglo-Yugoslav-Greek front against Germany. At the same time she tried rapprochement with Rumania, in order to
induce that country to detach itself from Germany. It was only the rapid German
victories that caused the failure of the Anglo-Russian plan for an attack
against the German troops in Rumania and Bulgaria.
"VI. This policy was accompanied by a
steadily growing concentration of all available Russian forces on a long front
from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, against which countermeasures were taken
by Germany only later. Since the beginning of the year this has been a steadily
growing menace to the territory of the Reich. Reports received in the last few
days eliminated the last remaining doubts as to the aggressive character of
this Russian concentration and completed the picture of an extremely tense military
situation. In addition to this, there are the reports from England regarding
the negotiations of Ambassador Cripps for still closer political and military
collaboration between England and the Soviet Union.
"To sum up, the Government of the
Reich declares, therefore, that the Soviet Government, contrary to the
obligations it assumed,
1) has not only continued, but even
intensified its attempts to undermine Germany and Europe;
2) has adopted a more and more anti-German
foreign policy;
3) has concentrated all its forces in
readiness at the German border. Thereby the Soviet Government has broken its
treaties with Germany and is about to attack Germany from the rear, in its
struggle for life. The Führer has therefore ordered the German Armed Forces to
oppose this threat with all the means at their disposal."
End of declaration.
Please do not enter into any discussion of
this communication. It is incumbent upon the Government of Soviet Russia to
safeguard the security of the Embassy personnel.
RIBBENTROP