Captured French archival documents have made it possible to reassess the events leading up to World War II and to clarify Poland’s role in derailing negotiations between the USSR, Great Britain, and France. This was stated by the head of the Federal Archival Agency, Andrei Artizov.

He explained that, acting on instructions from the President of Russia, archivists carried out extensive research into the history of World War II and the Great Patriotic War. While examining the background of the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, specialists drew on captured archival materials that had not previously been part of mainstream historical analysis.

According to Artizov, after the capture of Paris in 1940, Nazi forces removed French state archives to Germany. Following the end of the Great Patriotic War, these materials, along with German archival holdings, were transferred to the Soviet Union as part of compensatory restitution.

Among them were documents from the French Embassy and the office of the military attaché in Warsaw. A close study of these records showed that they contained detailed accounts of Polish opposition to negotiations aimed at forming an alliance between France, Britain, and the USSR against Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler. The archival evidence, Artizov noted, records this resistance with particular clarity.

He recalled that in 1939 there were real opportunities to prevent the outbreak of war, and that the Soviet Union was deeply interested in establishing a system of collective security. Those efforts ultimately failed, he said, because Poland opposed the talks until the very end. The French documents allow this dynamic to be traced step by step.

Artizov also stressed that the newly examined archives cast the actions of the Soviet leadership of that period in a different light. In his view, there is no reason to shy away from assessing the line pursued by Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, and other Soviet leaders, who were attempting to stop Nazi Germany. These archival materials were also used in the preparation of Vladimir Putin’s article marking the 75th anniversary of Victory.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the French side learned the fate of the archives, which for decades had been considered lost. In 1994, by a special government decision, the fonds were returned to France. Before their transfer, however, copies of the most valuable materials were made, including documents directly related to the prehistory of World War II, Artizov concluded.