paragraph_text: Under the 1977 Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the Chairman of the Council of Ministers was the head of government and the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was the head of state. The office of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers was comparable to a prime minister in the First World, whereas the office of the Chairman of the Presidium was comparable to a president in the First World. In the Soviet Union's seventy - year history there was no official leader of the Soviet Union office, but during most of that era there was a de facto top leader who usually led the country through the office of the Premier or the office of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). In the ideology of Vladimir Lenin the head of the Soviet state was a collegiate body of the vanguard party (see What Is to Be Done?).

paragraph_text: Stages of a Long Journey is a live album by German double bassist and composer Eberhard Weber recorded in Germany in 2005 and released on the ECM label.

paragraph_text: The PTBT was signed by the governments of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States in Moscow on 5 August 1963 before being opened for signature by other countries. The treaty formally went into effect on 10 October 1963. Since then, 123 other states have become party to the treaty. Ten states have signed but not ratified the treaty.

paragraph_text: The Molotov -- Ribbentrop Pact, also known as the Nazi -- Soviet Pact, the German -- Soviet Non-aggression Pact or the Nazi German - Soviet Pact of Aggression (officially: Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), was a neutrality pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by foreign ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov, respectively. The pact was followed by the German - Soviet Commercial Agreement in February 1940.

paragraph_text: As African states became independent in the 1960s, the Soviet Union offered many of their citizens the chance to study in Russia. Over a period of 40 years, about 400,000 African students from various countries moved to Russia to pursue higher studies, including many Black Africans. This extended beyond the Soviet Union to many countries of the Eastern bloc.

paragraph_text: Throughout the 1970s, both the Soviet Union and United States replaced old missiles and warheads with newer, more powerful and effective ones. This continued to worsen Soviet - U.S relations. On June 18, 1979, the SALT II treaty was signed in Vienna. This treaty limited both sides' nuclear arsenals and technology. However, this treaty as well as the era of the détente ended with the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in January, 1980. The United States once again significantly increased military and nuclear spending, while the Soviets were unable to respond and continued to pursue the détente.

paragraph_text: In 1939 Waterhouse returned to Canada, notably appearing as a soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra during several concerts in the 1939-1940 season. In the early 1940s he was heard as a soloist with several orchestras in Canada and the United States, including performing Johannes Brahms's "Double Concerto" in partnership with Martin Hoherman with both the Boston Pops Orchestra and the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra. In 1946 he began pursuing further studies at Boston University where he graduated with both a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music in 1950. From 1951-1975 he was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and from 1975 until his retirement in 1987 he was principal second violin of the Boston Pops Orchestra. He concurrently played in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 1975-1987 and was also actively performing in duo concerts with the pianist Leonard Isaacs during those years.

paragraph_text: Joseph Stalin was also upset by the results of the Munich conference. The Soviets, who had a mutual military assistance treaty with Czechoslovakia, felt betrayed by France, who also had a mutual military assistance treaty with Czechoslovakia. The British and French, however, mostly used the Soviets as a threat to dangle over the Germans. Stalin concluded that the West had actively colluded with Hitler to hand over a Central European country to the Nazis, causing concern that they might do the same to the Soviet Union in the future, allowing the partition of the USSR between the western powers and the fascist Axis. This belief led the Soviet Union to reorient its foreign policy towards a rapprochement with Germany, which eventually led to the signing of the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact in 1939.

paragraph_text: The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra was a jazz big band formed by trumpeter Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis in New York in 1965. The band performed for twelve years in its original incarnation, including a 1972 tour of the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. The band won a Grammy Award for the album "Live in Munich" and in 2009 for the album "Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard." The collaboration ended in 1978 with Jones suddenly moving to Copenhagen, Denmark, after which the band became the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. Since the death of Lewis in 1990 it has been known as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. They have maintained a Monday-night residency at the Village Vanguard jazz club in New York for five decades.

paragraph_text: When World War II started in 1939, it divided the world into two alliances—the Allies (the United Kingdom and France at first in Europe, China in Asia since 1937, followed in 1941 by the Soviet Union, the United States); and the Axis powers consisting of Germany, Italy and Japan.[nb 1] During World War II, the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union controlled Allied policy and emerged as the "Big Three". The Republic of China and the Big Three were referred as a "trusteeship of the powerful"  and were recognized as the Allied "Big Four" in Declaration by United Nations in 1942. These four countries were referred as the "Four Policemen" of the Allies and considered as the primary victors of World War II. The importance of France was acknowledged by their inclusion, along with the other four, in the group of countries allotted permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council.

paragraph_text: The Soviet invasion of Poland was a Soviet military operation that started without a formal declaration of war on 17 September 1939. On that morning, 16 days after Germany invaded Poland from the west, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east. Subsequent military operations lasted for the following 20 days and ended on 6 October 1939 with the two - way division and annexation of the entire territory of the Second Polish Republic by both Germany and the Soviet Union. The joint German - Soviet invasion of Poland was secretly agreed to following the signing of the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact on 23 August 1939.

paragraph_text: Cooperation ended in 1933, as Adolf Hitler came to power and created Nazi Germany. The countries' economic relationship dwindled at the beginning of the Nazi era, but some diplomatic initiatives continued through the 1930s, culminating with the Molotov -- Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 and various trade agreements. Few questions concerning the origins of the Second World War are more controversial and ideologically loaded than the issue of the policies of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin towards Nazi Germany between the Nazi seizure of power and the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941.

paragraph_text: Sassou Nguesso aligned the country with the Eastern Bloc and signed a twenty-year friendship pact with the Soviet Union. Over the years, Sassou had to rely more on political repression and less on patronage to maintain his dictatorship.

paragraph_text: Julien Hequembourg Bryan (23 May 1899 in Titusville, Pennsylvania – 20 October 1974) was an American photographer, filmmaker, and documentarian. He is best known for documenting the daily life in Poland, Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1939.

paragraph_text: Márquez has also performed more than 34 concerts with several symphony orchestras in Venezuela, a privilege granted to few popular artists in her country. She performs an average of 70 shows each year.

paragraph_text: On 10 January 1941, Germany and the Soviet Union signed an agreement settling several ongoing issues. Secret protocols in the new agreement modified the "Secret Additional Protocols" of the German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty, ceding the Lithuanian Strip to the Soviet Union in exchange for 7.5 million dollars (31.5 million Reichsmark). The agreement formally set the border between Germany and the Soviet Union between the Igorka river and the Baltic Sea. It also extended trade regulation of the 1940 German–Soviet Commercial Agreement until August 1, 1942, increased deliveries above the levels of year one of that agreement, settled trading rights in the Baltics and Bessarabia, calculated the compensation for German property interests in the Baltic States now occupied by the Soviets and other issues. It also covered the migration to Germany within two and a half months of ethnic Germans and German citizens in Soviet-held Baltic territories, and the migration to the Soviet Union of Baltic and "White Russian" "nationals" in German-held territories.

paragraph_text: On August 19, the 1939 German–Soviet Commercial Agreement was finally signed. On 21 August, the Soviets suspended Tripartite military talks, citing other reasons. That same day, Stalin received assurance that Germany would approve secret protocols to the proposed non-aggression pact that would place half of Poland (border along the Vistula river), Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Bessarabia in the Soviets' sphere of influence. That night, Stalin replied that the Soviets were willing to sign the pact and that he would receive Ribbentrop on 23 August.

paragraph_text: Persimfans was a conductorless orchestra in Moscow in the Soviet Union that was founded by Lev Tseitlin and existed between 1922 and 1932. Its name is an abbreviation for "Pervïy Simfonicheskiy Ansambl' bez Dirizhyora" (First Conductorless Symphony Ensemble).

paragraph_text: Soviet propaganda and representatives went to great lengths to minimize the importance of the fact that they had opposed and fought against the Nazis in various ways for a decade prior to signing the Pact. Upon signing the pact, Molotov tried to reassure the Germans of his good intentions by commenting to journalists that "fascism is a matter of taste". For its part, Nazi Germany also did a public volte-face regarding its virulent opposition to the Soviet Union, though Hitler still viewed an attack on the Soviet Union as "inevitable".[citation needed]

paragraph_text: Orchestra is an album by German double bassist and composer Eberhard Weber recorded in 1988 and released on the ECM label.

Question: In 1939, what pact was signed between the Soviet Union and the country of citizenship of the performer of Orchestra?
Answer: Molotov -- Ribbentrop Pact of 1939