Enemy in the East. Hitler’s Secret Plans to Invade the Soviet Union, by Rolf-Dieter Müller, tr. Alexander Starritt

This translation of Rolf-Dieter Müller’s 2011 study, Der Feind steht im Osten: Hitlers geheime Pläne für einen Krieg gegen die Sowjetunion im Jahr 1939, is a welcome addition to the English-language historiography. What Müller reveals is the extent of common ground in Polish/German relations up to 1939. As Müller points out, Polish historiography today interprets this period as ‘a policy of maintaining an equilibrium between Hitler and Stalin’ (p. 75), which Müller insists from German and Japanese sources is very far from the case. Indeed, Polish foreign policy conveyed the impression that an accommodation with Nazi Germany, framed by a common anti-Soviet alliance, was seriously pursued by Warsaw. Ultimately, the Polish government faltered at the price of making territorial concessions to Hitler and the fear of surrendering its independent foreign policy in Eastern Europe. Yet, as a testament to the development of German/Polish relations, Müller also notes the willingness of both sides to deal with their so-called ‘Jewish problem’. The Polish ambassador to Berlin, Jozef Lipski, even promised Hitler ‘a nice monument in Warsaw’ (p. 101) if a method could be found to force Poland’s large Jewish population to emigrate.

Alliance · Ancient history · Archaeology · Economic history · Foreign policy · German · Historiography · Nazi Germany · Nazism · Political science · Politics · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · German History and Society · History · Law · Polish Historical and Cultural Studies