On the eve of the Second World War in conditions of increasing international tension, the Soviet-German treaty of non-aggression or the ‘Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact’ was signed on 23 August 1939. In accordance with a secret appendix to this agreement, the USSR and Germany divided up spheres of influence in Europe between them. The Baltic States, Finland, Western Byelorussia, Western Ukraine and Bessarabia were to come under the USSR’s sphere of influence, whilst a large part of Poland became Germany’s zone of influence. The fate of states and peoples was decided without their participation. >>