# Germany and the Soviet Union sign the non-aggression pact with a secret protocol

Date: 1939

## The fact

On 23 August 1939 Ribbentrop and Molotov signed a non-aggression pact with a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe. Hitler authorised the German side. Adolf Hitler's documented role is: He authorised Ribbentrop to sign with Molotov. The secret protocol partitioned Poland and the Baltics. Stalin shares the instrument.

## Context

Sharing the pact with Stalin/Molotov is required. Poland is the immediate object. The setting of Germany and the Soviet Union sign the non-aggression pact with a secret protocol is the public file around 1939-08-23. Shared offices, unnamed crews, printers, or later editors may appear without becoming this instrument. Driver [humanitarian-access](/drivers/humanitarian-access) is attached because the significance names a mechanism from this act, not because a standing list needed coverage.

## Evidence and sources

Avalon carries pact and protocol texts. USHMM independently describes them. Official carrier: Avalon Project — German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact and secret additional protocol, 23 August 1939 (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/; Yale Avalon Project). Independent carrier: USHMM — Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

Official or archival record: Avalon Project — German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact and secret additional protocol, 23 August 1939 (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/; Yale Avalon Project).

## Significance

Worsening humanitarian-war path. Complex. High confidence on the documents. The welfare reading on this path is worsening. Readers checking this Fact should open both named URLs for Germany and the Soviet Union sign the non-aggression pact with a secret protocol.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 23 August 1939 pact and protocol. Not established: that it is the 1941 invasion of the USSR. Established: a sourced public record of Germany and the Soviet Union sign the non-aggression pact with a secret protocol under 1939-08-23.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Do not erase Stalin. Do not treat 22 June 1941 as this pact. Mixed effects of Germany and the Soviet Union sign the non-aggression pact with a secret protocol are separate paths.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

The attached driver is humanitarian-access. The welfare reading used in this dossier is worsening. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Shared responsibility is part of Germany and the Soviet Union sign the non-aggression pact with a secret protocol. Naming Adolf Hitler does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1939-08-23 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

## People

- Adolf Hitler: https://factrail.ai/people/adolf-hitler

## Drivers

- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/
- https://avalon.law.yale.edu/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/hitler-pact-1939