Office of the Historian

740.0011 European War, 1939/166: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State

Moscow, September 6, 1939—3 p.m.
[Received September 6—10:40 a.m.]

514. I am reliably informed that in a recent interview between the Polish Ambassador and Molotov32 the latter expressed surprise that England and France had actually declared war on Germany.

I also understand that although the Polish Ambassador endeavored to obtain from Molotov a clarification of the Soviet attitude towards the Polish-German conflict Molotov was non-committal and evasive.

Steinhardt
  1. Vyacheslav M. Molotov, Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet Union.↩