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Reference number:
LSE2692
Caption
Rendezvous
Embedded text
The scum of the earth, I believe
The bloody assassin of the workers, I presume?
Notes
"A pact was announced between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia by which (it transpired later) it was arranged to defeat and partition Poland. Germany invaded Poland, and Britain and France declared war." [Europe since Versailles by Low.]
Republished in David Low, Low's War Cartoons, Cresset Press, 1941.
The declared nature of the pact was a 'non-aggression' treaty; Russia and Germany would not fight each other. For Hitler, this removed the threat of a war on two fronts should he invade Poland. For Stalin, this operated in similar fashion to Britain and France's policy of appeasement in that it gave him time to prepare for conflict: Stalin was convinced that Britain and France would leave him to do all the fighting on the Eastern front, despite their promise to guarantee Polish neutrality, and he needed time to re-arm. For both parties, of course, the secret element of the treaty (the division of Poland) served to regain territory lost in the aftermath of World War I. Hitler and Stalin remained ideologically opposed, as the captions suggest. The Nazi-Soviet pact was merely a pragmatic gesture on both parts.
Poland is represented by the prostrate figure.
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Archival reference number
LSE2692
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Copyright contact details
Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT solo@solosyndication.com
