The Molotov–Ribbentrop secret protocol as nonexistent or forged
01
What institutions accepted
After the 1948 Western publication of captured German records, Soviet institutions sustained a public historical account that omitted or denied the authentic secret additional protocol to the 1939 Soviet-German non-aggression treaty. The official counter-publication attacked the Western document collection as falsification without naming the protocol, and later Soviet representatives continued to deny its existence or authenticity.
02
What the evidence supports now
Germany and the Soviet Union signed a secret additional protocol on 23 August 1939 alongside their public non-aggression treaty. It set terms for German and Soviet spheres of interest in the Baltic states and Poland and recorded Soviet interest in Bessarabia. On 24 December 1989 the USSR Congress of People's Deputies confirmed that the protocol had been signed and existed, condemned the secret arrangements and declared them legally untenable and invalid from the moment of signature. The Soviet original was later located and is now cataloged in the Russian foreign-policy archive.
03
Evidence for the overall belief
Open sources, locators and notes
- SupportsHistorical beliefArmen Grigoryan — research paper on history and propaganda around the Molotov–Ribbentrop PactOpen Society Archives
Where in the source: Printed pp. 1–3, section “Publication of the secret protocol … in the USSR,” especially pp. 1–2 and notes 1–8
Research paper based on contemporary Soviet press, Associated Press, TASS and Radio Liberty archival records. It describes the long denial and shows the qualified but continuing doubt expressed at the August 1988 press conference.
- SupportsHistorical beliefMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact: Challenging Soviet HistoryThe Foreign Policy Institute, Estonia
Where in the source: Foreword, printed pp. 7–9; Endel Lippmaa recollection, pp. 69–70; Anneli Reigas recollection, pp. 101–105
The institutional history, written by commission participants and published by Estonia's Foreign Policy Institute, describes the official Soviet denial, identifies late public statements that it characterizes as denials and recounts the change of position during the congressional commission. Its participant perspective is used alongside contemporary reporting and Soviet primary records.
- DocumentsPresent correctionResolution on the political and legal assessment of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Treaty of 1939Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR
Where in the source: Vedomosti SND SSSR i VS SSSR, no. 29 (27 Dec 1989), item 579, Resolution no. 979-I, printed pp. 833–835, §§3–7
The official resolution confirms the protocol's signing and existence, explains the evidence available without the originals, condemns the secret arrangements and declares them invalid from the moment of signature.
- DocumentsPresent correctionNazi-Soviet Relations, 1939–1941: Documents from the Archives of the German Foreign OfficeU.S. Department of State
Where in the source: Part II, document dated 23 Aug 1939, “Secret Additional Protocol,” printed p. 78
The 1948 State Department collection prints the captured German text, including the Baltic, Polish and Bessarabian clauses, secrecy provision, date and signatures of Ribbentrop and Molotov.
- SupportsImpactStalin and the Pamphlet “Falsifiers of History”: “Interpretations”, Guidelines and Their ImplementationInstitute of National Remembrance Review
Where in the source: Institute of National Remembrance Review 4 (2021–2022), printed pp. 243–245 and 253–257
Archival study traces Stalin's personal editing, the coordinated press and distribution campaign, and the pamphlet's role as the basis of official Soviet historiography through the end of the USSR.
04
Impact
The Soviet Information Bureau's 1948 Falsifiers of History supplied the framework for an official account of the 1939 pact that endured through most of the remaining Soviet period. Its text defended the pact and subsequent Soviet territorial moves while omitting the secret protocol; Soviet historiography then treated Stalin's account as official dogma. Challenges to the protocol's authenticity continued into glasnost: at a Novosti press conference in August 1988, Valentin Falin acknowledged some division of spheres but stressed that only copies of copies had been published and said the protocol might be false. A Congress-appointed commission conducted a reassessment in 1989, culminating in the formal resolution that acknowledged the protocol and condemned its signing.
Context
Falsifiers of History called the U.S. documentary release a falsification campaign but did not name or directly discuss the 23 August 1939 secret protocol. It is evidence of the state counter-narrative and omission, not a source for a verbatim Soviet denial of the protocol.
The 16 August 1988 Novosti conference marked a limited opening, not an authentication. Research based on contemporary press and news-agency reports finds that Falin acknowledged some division of spheres while saying the protocol might be false and emphasizing that no original had been seen. A participant history calls the position a denial and records his later change during the 1989 commission.
In December 1989 the Soviet originals had not yet been found. The Congress relied on copies, maps, related documents, expert examinations and correspondence with subsequent events; the Soviet original was located later and is now identified by an archival storage code.
The 1989 resolution distinguished the public non-aggression treaty from the secret arrangements: it did not find that the public treaty itself departed from normal international practice, but condemned the secret protocols as contrary to the sovereignty and independence of third states.
from the 1948 state counter-publication to formal Soviet acknowledgment in 1989
date of the treaty and secret additional protocol
date the USSR Congress formally acknowledged and condemned the secret arrangements
Historical totals and effects are presented as contextual evidence, not as universal causal claims.
Institutional episode 01
Soviet Union
Eurasia
The 1948 Soviet response to the Western document release established a durable official framework that defended the pact while omitting its secret protocol. Later public denials treated the protocol as nonexistent or inauthentic even though copies and corroborating records were available abroad. In December 1989 the Soviet Congress confirmed its existence, condemned the secret arrangements and declared them invalid from inception.
Institutions involved
- Soviet Information Bureau
- Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Novosti Press Agency (APN)
Institutional context
In January 1948 the U.S. State Department published Nazi-Soviet Relations, including a translation of the secret protocol from captured German records. Stalin supervised the Soviet Information Bureau's reply, Falsifiers of History, which was released through a press conference, Pravda installments and mass publication. Its theses became the basis of official Soviet historiography about the pact, while the protocol itself remained excluded from the authorized account. Institutional representatives continued to cast doubt on the protocol into 1989 before the Congress of People's Deputies established a commission and formally reversed the line that December.
Why this persisted
PublicationThe state answered the documentary release with a centrally directed pamphlet, newspaper serialization and international distribution. Its interpretation became official historiography, reinforced by continued public denial and the inaccessibility of the Soviet archival counterpart.
How correction happened
Corrected24 December 1989
Action: The USSR Congress of People's Deputies confirmed that the secret protocol had been signed and existed, condemned its signing and declared the secret arrangements invalid from inception.
Resolution No. 979-I formally replaced the inherited public line after a congressional commission assessed copies, maps, related records and expert examinations.
Consequences
- An authentic secret agreement was excluded from the authorized Soviet account of the diplomacy of 1939
- Western documentary evidence was publicly framed as part of a falsification campaign
- Official history supplied alternative explanations for Soviet actions toward Poland, the Baltic states, Finland and Bessarabia
- The Soviet archival counterpart remained inaccessible while historians and the public debated copies held abroad
- The dispute became part of late-Soviet political mobilization in the Baltic republics
- The 1989 commission and Congress had to establish authenticity before the Soviet original had been located
Evidence for this episode
9 evidence linksOpen sources, locators and notes
- DocumentsInstitutional carrierFalsifiers of History — 1948 Soviet Information Bureau editionRussian State Library
Where in the source: Catalog record for the Moscow Gospolitizdat 1948 edition; pamphlet opening note and Part III
The state-library record identifies the Soviet Information Bureau publication. The pamphlet presents itself as the official answer to the U.S. document collection and defends the Soviet-German pact without naming the 1939 protocol.
- DocumentsMechanismStalin and the Pamphlet “Falsifiers of History”: “Interpretations”, Guidelines and Their ImplementationInstitute of National Remembrance Review
Where in the source: Printed pp. 253–257, especially pp. 255–257
Documents the press conference, Pravda serialization, large multilingual print campaign and adoption of the pamphlet's theses as official historiography and communist dogma.
- SupportsConsequencesMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact: Challenging Soviet HistoryThe Foreign Policy Institute, Estonia
Where in the source: Foreword, printed pp. 7–9; commission survey, pp. 16–51; participant recollections, pp. 67–105
Connects the long official denial to authorized explanations of Soviet policy, Baltic public mobilization and the contested work of the 1989 commission; the volume openly presents the perspective of Estonian participants.
- DocumentsInstitutional correctionResolution on the political and legal assessment of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Treaty of 1939Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR
Where in the source: Vedomosti SND SSSR i VS SSSR, no. 29 (27 Dec 1989), item 579, Resolution no. 979-I, printed pp. 833–835, §§3–7
Primary legal text of the Congress's acknowledgment, condemnation and declaration that the secret protocols were invalid from inception.
- ContextualizesContextValentin Falin — “The situation in the Baltics does not allow us to wait in inactivity”Rossiyskaya Gazeta
Where in the source: Rodina, no. 10 (2019), pp. 123–133, document publication from Valentin Falin’s personal papers
Publishes documents from Falin's personal papers that place his role in the broader late-Soviet Baltic debate. It is not used as the sole source for the wording of his 16 August 1988 conference position.
- ContextualizesContextArmen Grigoryan — research paper on history and propaganda around the Molotov–Ribbentrop PactOpen Society Archives
Where in the source: Printed pp. 1–3, especially the 16 Aug 1988 conference discussion on pp. 1–2 and notes 1–8
Reconstructs the conference from contemporary reports: Falin accepted that some division of spheres had occurred, but emphasized that only copies of copies were public and said the secret protocol might be false.
- ContextualizesContextNazi-Soviet Relations, 1939–1941: Documents from the Archives of the German Foreign OfficeU.S. Department of State
Where in the source: Part II contents and document dated 23 Aug 1939, printed pp. 76–78
Shows exactly what the January 1948 Western collection made public: the treaty followed by the secret additional protocol.
- ContextualizesContextSecret additional protocol on the boundary of German and Soviet spheres of interestBoris Yeltsin Presidential Library
Where in the source: Catalog fields “Dates,” “Storage code” and “Location of original”
Catalogs the 23 August 1939 original in the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation as AVP RF, fond 3a, opis 1, papka 18, delo 243, folios 3–6 and 10–11.
- ContextualizesContext1939 — The Beginning of the Second World War archival exhibitionState Archive of the Russian Federation
Where in the source: Exhibition description, paragraph beginning “Key to understanding the situation…”
The Russian state archival exhibition identifies the original treaty and original secret additional protocol as key exhibits.
Source registryEach source is registered once and can carry several precise evidence relationships.9 sources
- 011 evidence link
- 021 evidence link
- 03Resolution on the political and legal assessment of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Treaty of 1939Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR2 evidence links
- 04Secret additional protocol on the boundary of German and Soviet spheres of interestBoris Yeltsin Presidential Library1 evidence link
- 051939 — The Beginning of the Second World War archival exhibitionState Archive of the Russian Federation1 evidence link
- 062 evidence links
- 07Stalin and the Pamphlet “Falsifiers of History”: “Interpretations”, Guidelines and Their ImplementationInstitute of National Remembrance Review2 evidence links
- 08Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: Challenging Soviet HistoryThe Foreign Policy Institute, Estonia2 evidence links
- 092 evidence links