Hitler/Stalin Correspondence 1941?

[Max Payload]

In the mid-60s Zhukov apparently stated that in the first half of 1941 Stalin had been in direct correspondence with Hitler, and in early June he had viewed a copy of a letter from Stalin to Hitler together with Hitler's reply. No archival record of such correspondence has been found, (though before his death it seems Hitler ordered that his personal correspondence be destroyed) but the author Igor Bunich claims that two of Hitler's letters have been found, the 14 May 1941 letter stating:-

"Dear Mr. Stalin,
I am writing this letter at the moment of having finally concluded that it will
be impossible to achieve a lasting peace in Europe, not for us, not for future generations, without the final shattering of England and her destruction as a state. As you well know, I long ago made the decision to carry out a series of military measures to achieve this goal.
The closer the hour of a decisive battle, however, the larger the number of problems I face. For the mass of the German people, no war is popular, especially not a war against England, because the German people consider the English a fraternal people and war between them a tragic event. I will not conceal that I have felt the same way and have several times offered England humane peace terms, taking into consideration England’s military situation. However, insulting replies to my peace proposals and the continuing expansion by the English of the field of military operations with the obvious intention of drawing the entire world into war persuade me that there is no other way out of this situation except for an invasion of the Isles and the decisive destruction of that country.
... In order to organise troops for the invasion away from the eyes of the English opponent, and in connection with the recent operations in the Balkans, a large number of my troops, about eighty divisions, are located on the borders of the Soviet Union. This possibly gave rise to the rumours° now circulating of a likely military conflict between us.
I assure you, on my honour as a chief of state that this is not the case.
From my side, I also react with understanding to the fact that you cannot completely ignore these rumours and have also deployed a sufficient number of your troops on the border.
In this situation I cannot completely exclude the possibility of an accidental outbreak of armed conflict, which given the conditions created by such a concentration of troops might take on very large dimensions, making it difficult if not impossible to determine what caused it in the first place.
I want to be absolutely candid with you.
I fear that some one of my generals might deliberately embark on such a conflict in order to save England from its fate and spoil my plans.
It is a question of no more than a month.
By approximately 15-20 June I plan to begin a massive transfer of troops to the west from your borders.
In connection with this, I ask you, as persuasively as possible, not to give in to any provocations that might emanate from those of my generals who might have forgotten their duty. And, it goes without saying, try not to give them any cause. If it becomes impossible to avoid provocation by some of my generals, I ask you to show restraint, to not respond but to advise me immediately of what has happened through the channel known to you. Only in this way can we attain our mutual goals, on which, it seems to me, we are clearly in agreement.
I thank you for having agreed with me on the question known to you and I ask you to forgive me for the method I have chosen for delivering this letter to you as quickly as possible.
I continue to hope for our meeting in July.
Sincerely yours,
Adolf Hitler"

This letter is also referred to in the November 2003 issue of Krasnaia Zvezda.
In his book, 'What Stalin Knew', David Murphy suggests that the delivery method referred to relates to a JU-52 that, without PVO knowledge or authorisation, penetrated Soviet airspace on 15 May, landed at an airport near Moscow, was refuelled and subsequently returned to German occupied territory. And the reference to a meeting relates to an earlier letter in December in which Hitler proposed a face to face meeting in late June or early July.

German disinformation strategy used numerous methods to persuade the Soviets of Germany's focus on the British Isles, but can any credence can be placed on this particular account? If so, in paraphrasing Solzhenitsyn - Stalin trusted Hitler more than anyone - it could help to account for Stalin's absolute conviction that he had nothing to fear from Germany until the war with Britain had been concluded. And it could also explain his lingering hope during the early hours of 22 June that the attack was the work of renegade German generals.

[GregSingh]

Interesting.
Did they say what actually was found? Original Hitler's letter in German? Or translation to Russian done in Germany or in SU?
I believe none of original correspondence was in English. Did they provide German / Russian versions?

[Art]

the author Igor Bunich

That's a man with a kind of reputation which cries "do not trust him".
As far as I know there are no fully reliable evidences of any letters between the two.

[Max Payload]

As far as I know there are no fully reliable evidences of any letters between the two.

Original Hitler's letter in German? ... Did they provide German / Russian versions?

Zhukov's comments on the correspondence were made to Lev Bezylensky in 1966. Zhukov stated that he remembered the phrase, "I assure you, on my honour as a chief of state ..." and that the letter's contents were largely reproduced in a TASS communique in Pravda on 14 June.
If Zhukov could not read German (I don't know) then he was presumably reading a translation. ( I suspect it would have been unlikely that Hitler would have signed a letter written in Russian.)

[GregSingh]

and that the letter's contents were largely reproduced in a TASS communique in Pravda on 14 June.

TASS communique (from Izvestiya):

[Art]

Zhukov stated that he remembered the phrase, "I assure you, on my honour as a chief of state ..."

Where is it from exactly? I don't see this detail in the Bezymensky's book.
The problem it is a single evidence and from a second hand. As far as I can judge the "letter" version is mostly taken with caution by historians, it's not rejected but neither seen as a solid fact.

[Max Payload]

I don't see this detail in the Bezymensky's book.

My mistake, the source was Murphy's book (page188) -

'The phrase noted by Zhukov, ‘‘on my honor as a chief of state,’’ would seem to authenticate the excerpts in the Krasnaia Zvezda article.'

Murphy does not specifically quote Bezymensky as the source of this. Nor does he quote any other source.

The problem it is a single evidence and from a second hand. As far as I can judge the "letter" version is mostly taken with caution by historians, it's not rejected but neither seen as a solid fact.

Agreed. Zhukov claimed to have seen a letter in June, but there is no supporting evidence and I can't find any information on the provenance of the letter quoted by Bunich.

[DavidFrankenberg]

Is Jukov a liar ? If he saw the letters in Moscow, the letters did exist, and we dont see any interest for soviet authority to have forge those letters...
So, who reports Jukov's sayings may be the liar indeed ? 2 journalists are suposed to have reported Zhukov' saying : Konstantin Simonov and Lev Bezhiminsky. How reliable were they ?

Whatever let me quote John Lukacs, he dedicated one appendix at the end of his Hitler -Stalin p.147-158.
His opinion is that these letters are forgeries. But he's not sure about the authorship of these forgeries : soviet authorites after Stalin's death to whitewash Stalin's responsibility in 41' defeats ?

The only letter from Hitler to Stalin is a telegram of 20 august 1939 to haste the Hitler-Stalin pact signed the 23.

Hitler alledgly wrote two letters to Stalin (...) responses to letters that Stalin had written to him (...) one dated 31 december 1940 the other 14 may 1941 (...) printed in their entirety in David Murphy What Stalin Knew p.256-258 (...) this letter is a forgery (...) there is no trace for such a correspondence in eithe rGerman or russian archives (...) Molotov was asked about these letters, he said : nonsense (...) in 1966 Zhukov was supposed to have had a conversation with two russian writers Konstantin Simonov a journalist and Lev Bezhimensky a former doplomat and journalist. They include an episod when on 15 june 1941 Stalin pulled out Hitler's letter from his desk drawer and showed and read some of it to Zhukov. "Read it". Yet according to the erudite Russian historian Sergei Slutsch Stalin never met Zhukov privately according to the record of Stalin's appointments certainly not on 15 june. (....) his only authentic true letter to Stalin on 20 august 1939 (...) "following telegram of the Fürher to Herr Stalin in writing, on a sheet of papaer without letterhead".

Lukacs pages are very interesting. He dismisses all arguments about supposed authenticity of those letters. The one of 14 may is supposed to have replied to one Stalin's letter brought by Dekanozov. Lukacs argues that this Stalin's letter is also a forgery. The only possibility for the delivering of the 14 may letter is the landing of the mysterious german airplane in Moscow the 15 may.

there was no such letter. I dont even think that it may have been confected on Hitler's orders. Was it forged to Stalins' orders ? That too is unlikely. Perhaps perhaps it was confected by someone posthumously for the purpose of whitening Stalin's record, his responsibility for his self-imposed blindness in june 1941

[DavidFrankenberg]

'The phrase noted by Zhukov, ‘‘on my honor as a chief of state,’’ would seem to authenticate the excerpts in the Krasnaia Zvezda article.'

Lukacs delivers an interesting interpretation about this "on my honor as a chief os tate" (Hitler Stalin p.157 n.1): "yet another oddity : Hitler's phrase, very unusual to him : "i assure you on my honor as a chief of state" echoing Stalin's unexpected words in august 1939 "the soviet gvt gives its word of honor that the soviet union will never betray its partner".

So it seems that the counterfeiters inspired them by reading the 23 august 1939 pact.

The question is : were Simonov and Bezhminsky the forgers ? or was it the soviet authorities after Stalin's death as Lukacs is thinking ? And behind this soviet authority, was it Krutschev or someone else ?

[Max Payload]

Whatever let me quote John Lukacs, ...

Hitler alledgly wrote two letters to Stalin (...) responses to letters that Stalin had written to him (...) one dated 31 december 1940 the other 14 may 1941 (...) printed in their entirety in David Murphy What Stalin Knew p.256-258 (...) this letter is a forgery (...) there is no trace for such a correspondence in eithe rGerman or russian archives (...) Molotov was asked about these letters, he said : nonsense (...) in 1966 Zhukov was supposed to have had a conversation with two russian writers Konstantin Simonov a journalist and Lev Bezhimensky a former doplomat and journalist. They include an episod when on 15 june 1941 Stalin pulled out Hitler's letter from his desk drawer and showed and read some of it to Zhukov. "Read it". Yet according to the erudite Russian historian Sergei Slutsch Stalin never met Zhukov privately according to the record of Stalin's appointments certainly not on 15 june. ...

When Lukacs writes that Bezylensky was 'supposed' to have had a conversation with Zhukov, is he suggesting that Bezylensky invented it? If so I'm not sure what grounds Lukacs has for making such a suggestion. Lukacs is clearly entirely dismissive of these letters and he may be right to be so. But where does his preoccupation with 15 June comes from? Bezylensky's account clearly puts Stalin's discussion with Zhukov about the letters prior to 15 June.

[DavidFrankenberg]

Whatever let me quote John Lukacs, ...

Hitler alledgly wrote two letters to Stalin (...) responses to letters that Stalin had written to him (...) one dated 31 december 1940 the other 14 may 1941 (...) printed in their entirety in David Murphy What Stalin Knew p.256-258 (...) this letter is a forgery (...) there is no trace for such a correspondence in eithe rGerman or russian archives (...) Molotov was asked about these letters, he said : nonsense (...) in 1966 Zhukov was supposed to have had a conversation with two russian writers Konstantin Simonov a journalist and Lev Bezhimensky a former doplomat and journalist. They include an episod when on 15 june 1941 Stalin pulled out Hitler's letter from his desk drawer and showed and read some of it to Zhukov. "Read it". Yet according to the erudite Russian historian Sergei Slutsch Stalin never met Zhukov privately according to the record of Stalin's appointments certainly not on 15 june. ...

When Lukacs writes that Bezylensky was 'supposed' to have had a conversation with Zhukov, is he suggesting that Bezylensky invented it? If so I'm not sure what grounds Lukacs has for making such a suggestion. Lukacs is clearly entirely dismissive of these letters and he may be right to be so. But where does his preoccupation with 15 June comes from? Bezylensky's account clearly puts Stalin's discussion with Zhukov about the letters prior to 15 June.

Yes you are right, he is assuming that Bezimenski talks about a Stalin-Zukov's meeting on the 15 june.
I dont have Bezimenski book, so i dont know what he is saying exactly. I cant check. You can quote Bezimenski ?

[Max Payload]

You can quote Bezimenski ?

Re Zhukov's account, here is part of Murphy's quotation of Bezymensky-

'Sometime in early June I decided to try again to convince Stalin of the accuracy of the intelligence reports on the approaching danger. . . . A few days passed and Stalin called for me. . . . He opened a case on his desk and took out several sheets of paper. ‘‘Read,’’ said Stalin. . . . It was a letter from Stalin to Hitler in which he briefly outlined his concern over the German deployments, about which I had reported a few days earlier. . . Stalin then said, ‘‘Here is the answer. Read it.’’ I am afraid that after so many years I cannot exactly reproduce Hitler’s words. But this I do remember precisely: ... I read the TASS communiqué in the June 14 issue of Pravda and in it, to my amazement, I discovered the same words I had read in Hitler’s letter to Stalin in Stalin’s office.'

[DavidFrankenberg]

So, the Stalin-Zukov's meeting happened "in early june" and BEFORE 14 june, so between 1 and 14 june.

Following http://istmat.info/node/2116 Zukov met Stalin the :
3 june 20h45-23h30
6 june 20h55-23h00
7 june 22h25-22h50
9 june 16h-17h and 18h-23h35
11 june 22h-24h25.

Since he mentionned "A few days passed", i favour the 3-6 june interval.

[GregSingh]

Here is simple translation of TASS communiqué from 13th of June (published in Soviet press the next day):

Even before the arrival of the British ambassador to the USSR, Mr. Cripps in London, especially after his arrival, rumors began circulating about the "closeness of the war between the USSR and Germany" in the British and in general in the foreign press.

According to these rumors:
1) Germany allegedly presented territorial and economic claims to the USSR, and negotiations are now going on between Germany and the USSR on concluding a new, closer agreement between them;
2) The USSR allegedly rejected these claims, in connection with which Germany began to concentrate its troops at the borders of the USSR with the aim of attacking the USSR;
3) The Soviet Union, in turn, began allegedly to prepare intensively for war with Germany and concentrates troops at the borders of the latter.

Despite the obvious senselessness of these rumors, the responsible circles in Moscow still felt it necessary, in view of the persistent exaggeration of these rumors, to authorize TASS to say that these rumors are clumsy concocted propaganda of forces hostile to the USSR and Germany, interested in further expanding and unleashing the war.

TASS states that:
1) Germany did not make any claims to the USSR and does not propose any new, closer agreement, as a result of which negotiations on this subject could not take place;
2) according to the USSR, Germany is also steadfastly observing the terms of the Soviet-German nonaggression pact, just like the Soviet Union, which, in the view of the Soviet circles, rumors of Germany's intention to break the pact and attack the USSR are devoid of any soil, and the recent transfer The German troops, liberated from operations in the Balkans, to the eastern and north-eastern regions of Germany, are connected, I presume, with other motives that have no bearing on Soviet-German relations;
3) The USSR, as it follows from its peaceful policy, has observed and intends to abide by the terms of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact, in view of which rumors that the USSR is preparing for war with Germany are false and provocative;
4) the ongoing summer gatherings of reserve Red Army and the forthcoming maneuvers have as their goal nothing more than training of reserve and inspection of the work of the railway apparatus, carried out, as is known, every year, and therefore portraying these activities of the Red Army as hostile to Germany is at least ridiculous.

[Max Payload]

I guess the part of the communique that might have leapt out at Zhukov in relation the purported 14 May letter is, "... in the opinion of Soviet circles [i.e. Stalin] the rumours of German intentions to break the pact and launch an attack on the USSR are completely without foundation; recent movement of German forces that have completed operations in the Balkans to eastern and northern Germany being explained by motives that have no connection with Soviet-German relations."
Interestingly this is a tacit public acknowledgement that German forces were concentrating near the Soviet border.