275. Sontag and Beddie, Nazi-Soviet Relations, 234–47; Naumov, 1941 god, I: 375–83 (APRF, f. 3, op. 64, d. 675, l. 49–57); DGFP, series D, XI: 550-62. Berezhkov writes: “Perhaps more important—and Molotov informed Stalin about this—Hitler was prepared to meet him face-to-face.” Berezhkov, At Stalin’s Side, 48.
276. Schmidt, Hitler’s Interpreter, 219; Time, Nov. 20, 1940; TASS (Nov. 13, 1940), printed in Izvestiia, Nov. 14, 1940, and reprinted in Naumov, 1941 god, I: 392–3.
277. Waddington, “Ribbentrop and the Soviet Union,” 21–2.
278. DGFP, series D, XI: 533–41; Sontag and Beddie, Nazi-Soviet Relations, 247–54.
279. Berezhkov, S diplomaticheskoi missiei, 48; Berezhkov, At Stalin’s Side, 44–9. The line does not appear in the official record made by Pavlov: Naumov, 1941 god, I: 385–92 (APRF, f. 3, op. 64, d. 675, l. 68–83, 92–3). British air raids deliberately coincided with Molotov’s visit to Berlin. Churchill, Second World War, II: 586. “How did he put up with you telling him all this?” Molotov recalled Stalin asking of his dealings with Hitler. Chuev, Molotov Remembers, 17.
280. Naumov, 1941 god, I: 394 (AVPRF, f. 059, op. 1, pap. 339, d. 2315, l. 38–9), 393–4 (pap. 33, d. 2314, l. 41–4).
281. Pravda, Nov. 15, 1940; Degras, Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy, III: 476–7.
282. Pravda, Nov. 13, 14, 15, and 16, 1939. See also Werth, Russia at War, 106–9.
283. Naumov, 1941 god, I: 384–5 (Politisches Archiv des Auswärtiges Amtes. Bonn, Bestand Dienstelle Ribbentrop, R 27168, bl. 25933, 25934, 25940); Lota, “Alta” protiv “Barbarossy,” 235.
284. Naumov, 1941 god, I: 508 (TsAMO, f. 23, op. 24119, d. 3, l. 6–7: Jan. 4, 1941); Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 125.
285. Naumov, 1941 god, I: 398 (AVPRF, f. 82, op. 23, p. 95, d. 6, l. 141–2).
286. Hilger and Meyer, Incompatible Allies, 324. Hitler’s interpreter would note that “just as the march into Prague on March 15, 1939, signified the decisive turn in the break with the West, so the outbreak of the fateful clash with the East . . . had its prelude in the November 1940 encounter between Hitler and Molotov in Berlin.” Schmidt, Statist, 515; Schmidt, Hitler’s Interpreter, 209.
287. The 1982 recollections of Yakov Chadayev have Molotov reporting on his Berlin trip at a meeting of the politburo on Nov. 14—but Molotov had not yet arrived back in Moscow. Chadayev’s recollections, moreover, have Stalin understanding at this point that the Pact had become worthless, a conclusion that does not comport in the least with Stalin’s actions. Kumanev, Riadom so Stalinym, 399–406 (Chadayev); Sipols, Tainy, 274–5. Molotov first appears again in Stalin’s office logbook on Nov. 18, alone, for a mere thirty minutes. Na prieme, 317–8.
288. Naumov, 1941 god, I: 395–6 (AVP RF, f. 059, op. 1, p. 326, d. 2239, l. 113–4). Molotov also denied any agreement had been signed in Berlin.
289. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 76 (citing AMVnR, p. 42, op. 1sh, pop. 315, l. 34: Stamenov, Nov. 16, 1940).
290. News Chronicle, Nov. 16, 1940; The Times, Nov. 18, 1940; Hanak, “Sir Stafford Cripps,” 67n3; Gorodetsky, Mission to Moscow, 83.
291. Simonov, “Zametki k biografii G. K. Zhukova,” 49. See also Volkogonov, Triumf i tragediia, II/i: 64, 67.
292. Gavrilov, Voennaia razvedka informiruet, 357–8 .
293. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 77–8, citing DGFP, XI: 606–10, 652n2 (Nov. 19, 1940), 653–4 (Nov. 18); Filov, Dnevnik, 199.
294. Bartlett, “Embodiment of Myth”; Bartlett, Wagner and Russia, 227, 259–57, 271–2, 288–9. “Even now I can still hear the bewilderment with which Sergei Mikhailovich responded to my telephone call when, without any diplomatic ‘approaches,’ I asked him to stage Wagner’s ‘Walküre’ at the Bolshoi Theatre,” recalled the head of the Bolshoi (Samuil Samosud). “Wagner?!” Eisenstein told him. “But I’ve never put on any opera before . . . let alone Wagner.” Iurenev, Eizenshtein v vospominaniiakh sovremennikov, 310; Eizenshtein, “Tvorcheskaia vstrecha s Vagnerom,” 8. During the Wagner rehearsals, in Oct. 1940, Eisenstein had been appointed director of Mosfilm, the country’s leading studio.
295. It would, however, enjoy a mere six performances. For contrasting assessments, see Kuznetsov, “‘Val’kiriia’ Vagnera v Bol’shom Teatre SSSR,” 76–9; and Iurenev, Eizenshtein v vospominaniiakh sovremennikov, 311 (Sergei Prokofyev).
296. Eizenshtein, “Pered prem’eroi ‘Val’kirii,’” 3.3. On Wagner, see also “Voploshchenie mifa” [Oct. 1940], in Eizenshtein, Izbrannye proizvedeniia, Iskusstvo, 1964–71, IV: 23–4.
297. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 80–1 (citing AVP RF, f. 059, op. 1, pap. 331, d. 2272, l. 167–8: Sobolev to Molotov, Nov. 25, 1940).
298. Na prieme, 319.
299. Dallin and Firsov, Dimitrov and Stalin, 126–34.
300. Banac, Diary of Georgi Dimitrov, 136; Lebedeva and Narinskii, Komintern i vtoraia mirovaia voina, 454; Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 81–2 (citing AMVnR, PREII/i/3 pap. 1, op. 2sh, pop. 1, l. 19: anonymous pamphlet, Nov. 27, 1940).
301. DVP SSSR, XXXIII/ii: 135–7.
302. Berezhkov, At Stalin’s Side, 50–1.
303. Naumov, 1941 god, I: 415–8 (APRF, f. 3, op. 64, d. 675, l. 108–14); Sontag and Beddie, Nazi-Soviet Relations, 217–59; DGFP, XI: 714–5, 1124–5; DVP SSSR, XXIII/ii: 136–7 (APRF, f. 3, op. 64, d. 675, l. 108–16); McMurry, Deutschland und die Sowjetunion, 296; Degras, Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy, III: 477–8.
304. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 79–81 (citing AMVnR, d. 40, p. 34, op. 1sh, pop. 272, l. 246, 248: Stamenov, Nov. 26, 1940; l. 246: AVP RF, f. 059, op. 1, pap. 331, d. 2272, l. 167–8: Sobolev to Molotov, Nov. 25, 1940).
305. Banac, Diary of Georgi Dimitrov, 139. “Consul General in Prague Kulikov came to see me,” Dimitrov also wrote in his diary (Nov. 27). “The Bat’a, Škoda, and other plants are working at full capacity for the German army. In the environs of Prague an enormous aviation factory is being built, which is to produce up to a thousand aircraft a month.” Banac, Diary of Georgi Dimitrov, 138.
306. Kershaw, Hitler: 1936–1945, 342.
307. Halder, Halder Diaries, I: 669–71 (Nov. 1, 1940); Halder, Kriegstagebuch, II: 157–9.
308. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 69–72.
309. Engel, Heeresadjutant bei Hitler, 91 (Nov. 15, 1940), 89–90 (Nov. 4, 1940).
310. Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, III: 442.
311. Engel, Heeresadjutant bei Hitler, 91 (November 15, 1940).