QuoteProject
Nowadays, it is no longer possible to maintain that the Nazi-Soviet pact of 23 August 1939 was a fiction invented by bourgeois-imperialist enemies. Everyone has seen the film clips of Herr Ribbentrop landing in Moscow, and of Stalin smiling broadly as Ribbentrop and Molotov signed up side by side.
Norman Davies
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the historical reality of the Nazi-Soviet pact and dispels myths surrounding it.

Norman Davies highlights the undeniable evidence of the Nazi-Soviet pact, which was established in 1939 and reveals a critical moment in history where two ideologically opposed regimes came together. By referencing the film clips of key figures involved in the signing, he underscores the importance of recognizing this pact as a real event rather than a fictitious narrative created by those who oppose both regimes.

Themes

Nazi-Soviet PactHistoryTruthAlliancePolitics

In practice

Example use cases

In a history class discussing World War II, this quote can highlight the significance of the Nazi-Soviet pact.

More from Norman Davies

The historical profession is nowhere famous for its tolerance, but there are not many countries where historians can expect to pay for their opinions with penal servitude or the firing squad.
Norman DaviesRead
Transience is one of the fundamental characteristics both of the human condition and of the political order.
Norman DaviesRead
Why are some things remembered and others forgotten? That is the theme I want to pursue about the Second World War.
Norman DaviesRead
Our mental maps are distorted by who are the 'winners' of history and who are the powers of today.
Norman DaviesRead
One might have thought that 70 years was time enough to work out what really happened in 1939. It isn't the case. Misunderstandings and misinformation abound.
Norman DaviesRead
I wanted to produce a book that would demonstrate not only the rich diversity of people who answered to Anders's command but also the extraordinary variety of their experiences and emotions: from death to despair, fear and longings and eventually to hope.
Norman DaviesRead

Similar quotes

The memory of the Second World War hangs over Europe, an inescapable and irresistible point of reference. Historical parallels are usually misleading and dangerous.
Antony BeevorRead
There's a big mistake that people make with history, which is to think that people in the past were just like us, but wearing crinolines. They lived in different worlds.
Lucy WorsleyRead
The evil of slavery and colonialism was that these oppressions kept their victims out of history, disconnected them from the evolutionary struggle.
Shelby SteeleRead
There are some places where history just grabs you by the jugular. This is one of them.
Simon SchamaRead
He was what I often think is a dangerous thing for a statesman to be - a student of history; and like most of those who study history, he learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones.
A. J. P. TaylorRead
Let's face it - think of Africa, and the first images that come to mind are of war, poverty, famine and flies. How many of us really know anything at all about the truly great ancient African civilizations, which in their day, were just as splendid and glorious as any on the face of the earth?
Henry Louis GatesRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.