German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Demarcation — 1939 treaty signed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union
This secret supplementary protocol redrew Eastern European borders between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union following their joint invasion of Poland.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- 28 September 1939
- Signatories
- Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov
- Witness
- Joseph Stalin
- Parent pact
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (23 August 1939)
- Third protocol date
- 10 January 1941
- Territory adjusted (1941)
- Part of Lithuania west of the Šešupė river
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union jointly invaded and occupied sovereign Poland. The need to formally delineate their respective territorial gains and spheres of influence in Eastern Europe prompted a further secret supplementary agreement between the two powers.
On 28 September 1939, foreign ministers Ribbentrop and Molotov, in the presence of Stalin, signed the German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty in Moscow. The treaty superseded the first supplementary protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and secretly redivided Eastern European spheres of influence, while only a small portion of its terms was publicly disclosed.
The treaty entrenched the secret partition of Eastern Europe between Germany and the Soviet Union. A third secret protocol followed on 10 January 1941, in which Germany renounced claims on part of Lithuania west of the Šešupė river. Within months, Germany violated the arrangement by launching its invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
Political Outcome
Eastern European spheres of influence secretly redivided between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; Poland's partition formalized.
Provisional spheres set by the original Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939
Revised and formalized partition of Eastern Europe with updated secret spheres of influence