August 23, 1939

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

Germany and the Soviet Union conclude their non-aggression pact and secret protocol

The treaty says 23 August 1939, but the evidence indicates the pens touched paper after midnight — the documents were dated back to the day of the conference.

23 August 1939: Moscow, with Stalin in the room

German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov concluded the German–Soviet Non-Aggression Treaty in Moscow on 23 August 1939. Joseph Stalin attended the final conference but left his foreign minister's signature, not his own, on the pact.

The date is conventional rather than literal: evidence indicates the signing was completed in the early hours of 24 August, with the documents dated 23 August.

What the public treaty said

Each government undertook to refrain from attacking the other, to remain neutral if the other became involved in war with a third power, and to avoid coalitions directed against the other. The term ran ten years, with automatic five-year extension unless notice was given.

This was a non-aggression agreement, not a formal German–Soviet military alliance.

The page that was not published

A secret additional protocol placed Finland, Estonia and Latvia in the Soviet sphere and used Lithuania's northern boundary as a line dividing German and Soviet interests in the Baltic, drawn without Lithuania as a party to the agreement. It contemplated territorial changes in Poland along the Narew–Vistula–San line and recorded Soviet interest, with German political disinterest, in Bessarabia.

The protocol did not hand all of Lithuania to the Soviet Union on this date; that transfer came under a separate secret protocol on 28 September 1939. Germany invaded Poland on 1 September, and the Soviet Union invaded from the east on 17 September.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 4 sources 3 audit passes Traditional date

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Traditional date. This date is the conventional one, not one fixed by a contemporary record.

What the sources leave uncertain

The treaty and protocol bear the date 23 August, and that is the conventional commemorative date. Evidence indicates that the signing was completed in the early hours of 24 August and the documents were dated 23 August.