page_title: German–Soviet Axis talks
section_title: Relations while dividing Poland
hierarchical_section_title: German–Soviet Axis talks / Background / Relations while dividing Poland
caption_attribution_description: Information added by Wikimedia users.English: Poland, victory parade, Guderian, Kriwoschein Magyar: Lengyelország, győzelmi parádé, Guderian, Kriwoschein English: Truck is Magirus M 206
context_page_description: In October and November 1940, German–Soviet Axis talks occurred concerning the Soviet Union's potential entry as a fourth Axis Power in World War II. The negotiations, which occurred during the era of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, included a two-day Berlin conference between Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Adolf Hitler and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, followed by both countries trading written proposed agreements.
  After two days of negotiations from 12 to 14 November 1940, Germany presented the Soviets with a draft written Axis pact agreement defining the world spheres of influence of the four proposed Axis powers. Hitler, Ribbentrop and Molotov tried to set German and Soviet spheres of influence; Hitler encouraged Molotov to look south to Iran and eventually India while preserving German access to Finland's resources, and to remove Soviet influence in the Balkans. Molotov remained firm, seeking to remove German troops from Finland and gain a warm water port in the Balkans.
context_section_description: One week after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact's signing, the partition of Poland commenced with the German invasion of western Poland. The Soviet Comintern suspended all anti-Nazi and anti-fascist propaganda, explaining that the war in Europe was a matter of capitalist states attacking each other for imperialist purposes. When anti-German demonstrations erupted in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Comintern ordered the Czech Communist Party to employ all of its strength to paralyze "chauvinist elements." Moscow soon forced the French Communist Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain to adopt an anti-war position.
  
  Two weeks after the German invasion, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland, coordinating with German forces. On September 21, the Soviets and Germans signed a formal agreement coordinating military movements in Poland, including the "purging" of saboteurs. A joint German-Soviet parade was held in L'vov and Brest. Stalin had decided in August that he was going to liquidate the Polish state, and a German-Soviet meeting in September addressed the future structure of the "Polish region." The Soviet Union stated in September that it must enter Poland to "protect" their ethnic Ukrainian and Belarusian brethren therein from Germany, though Molotov later admitted to German officials that this excuse was necessary because the Soviets could find no other pretext for the Soviet invasion.
  Three Baltic States described by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, were given no choice but to sign a so-called 'Pact of defense and mutual assistance' which permitted the Soviet Union to station troops in them.
caption: Soviet and German generals during the official transfer of Brest to Soviet control, September 23, 1939
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