History lesson

To the editor:

“Today in History” (Journal-World, Aug. 23) notes that Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty on Aug. 23, 1939.

This statement is true, but does not mention the most important part of the treaty, the “Secret Additional Protocol,” which divided Poland in half between the two powers. (The demarcation line was moved eastward in a new German-Soviet Treaty signed a month later.) The Secret Protocol also recognized dominant Soviet interest in the Baltic States: Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. The Soviets established military bases in those countries, which were included in the USSR in 1940. (They were to regain their independence in 1991.)

The signature of the treaty of Aug. 23, 1939, freed Hitler to attack Poland without risking Soviet hostility. On the contrary, it was in accordance with the Secret Protocol that Soviet troops moved into eastern Poland on Sept. 17, as the Poles were fighting the Germans, who had attacked them on Sept. 1.

France and Britain declared war on Germany on Sept. 3, which marked the beginning of World War II.

Anna M. Cienciala,

Lawrence