Archive/File: orgs/german/foreign-office/soviet-relations-preface Last-Modified: 1997/10/19 NAZI-SOVIET RELATIONS, 1939-1941 Documents from the Archives of the German Foreign Office Edited by Raymond James Sontag and James Stuart Beddie Page II Department of State, 1948 Department of State Publication 3023 Page III Preface In 1945 the American and British armies captured the archives of the German Foreign Office which had been evacuated from Berlin. Use of the archives for intelligence purposes began immediately. Later, it became evident that the documents concerning the aims and methods of German foreign policy should be published for the enlightenment of world opinion, including German opinion. In June 1946 the Department of State and the British Foreign Office agreed to sponsor jointly the publication of approximately twenty volumes of documents illustrative of German foreign policy from 1918 to 1945. The French Government subsequently became a party to this agreement. The documents were to be printed in the original German, and the more important were also to be printed in English translation. It was agreed that the selection and editing were to be performed on the basis of the highest scholarly objectivity and that, to secure an authoritative and scholarly documentary record of German foreign policy, the services of private scholars should be enlisted, as well as the services of scholars in government service. Each Government reserved the right to publish separately any portion of the documents. The Department of State has decided to publish separately the most significant documents bearing on German- Soviet relations during 1939-1941. This collection has been made by the Washington editors of the documents, Raymond James Sontag and James Stuart Beddie, assisted by Jean Brownell Dulaney. Page IV Editors' Foreword The editors have selected for publication at this time all documents essential to an understanding of the political relations between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union from the first efforts to reach an agreement in the spring of 1939 to the outbreak of war in June 1941. The larger publication sponsored by the American, British, and French Governments will include additional details, as well as documents which throw light incidentally on Russo-German relations, but which are concerned with other subjects. The lengthy agreements defining frontiers, and the bulky details of economic relations, have been left to the larger publication. Documents summarizing economic negotiations have, however, been included. Each document has been printed in full, without omissions or alterations. The translations, except for a few prepared by the editors, were made by the Central Translating Division of the Department of State, and revised by the editors. The editors have had complete independence in their work and final responsibility for the selection of relevant documents. RAYMOND JAMES SONTAG JAMES STUART BEDDIE
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