German-Lithuanian non-aggression pact

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Signing of the Estonian and Lithuanian non-aggression pacts from left to right: Vilhelms Munters , Latvian Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop , German Foreign Minister; Karl Selter , Estonian Foreign Minister

The German-Lithuanian non-aggression pact was an international agreement between the German Reich under Adolf Hitler and Lithuania . The non-aggression pact with Lithuania was passed in March 1939 after the Memelland was surrendered to the Reich without a fight following a German ultimatum . The signing took place in Berlin on June 7, 1939. The signatories were Joachim von Ribbentrop on the German side and Vilhelms Munters on the Lithuanian side . The ten-year treaty was ratified in Berlin on July 24, 1939. In the League of Nations Treaty Series , the treaty was deposited on August 24, 1939. From the German point of view, the treaty was intended to prevent the Soviet Union and the Western powers France and Great Britain from having a growing influence on the Baltic States . Germany wanted to prevent encirclement. The Soviet Union asked the Western powers France and Great Britain to issue a guarantee for the Baltic States.

The German Empire offered Estonia , Finland , Denmark , Norway and Sweden the signing of non-aggression pacts on April 28, 1939. Finland, Norway and Sweden rejected the offer.

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Footnotes

  1. ^ League of Nations Treaty Series , Issue 198, pp. 50-53.
  2. ^ A b R. J. Crampton: Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century and After . Routledge, 1997, ISBN 0-415-16422-2 , p. 105.
  3. ^ John Hiden , Thomas Lane (ed.): The Baltic and the Outbreak of the Second World War . Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-521-53120-9 , p. 60.