23 augustus 1939: DEU en USSR tekenen niet-aanvalsverdrag

VLAEMYNCK 1977: 17

The nonaggression pact of August 23 contained a secret protocol that provided for the partition of Poland and the rest of eastern Europe into Soviet and German spheres of interest. In accordance with this plan, the Soviet army occupied and annexed eastern Poland in the autumn of 1939. On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland, precipitating a four-month winter war after which the Soviet Union annexed Finnish territory borderlands, particularly near Leningrad. With German indulgence, the Soviet Union also moved to secure its sphere of interest in eastern Europe in the summer of 1940. The Soviets occupied and incorporated the Baltic states and seized the Romanian provinces of northern Bukovina and Bessarabia.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005156 (20030909)

zie ook: VLAEMYNCK 1977: 201

zie ook: SOETE Lieven Het Pact - Het Sovjet-Duitse niet-aanvalspact van 23 augustus 1939: Politieke zeden in het interbellum.