The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

by William L. Shirer

Besides the desperately needed raw materials which Russia would supply, Stalin, he said, had promised “generous help” in acting “as a buyer of metals and raw materials in third countries.” The Agreement [Schnurre concluded] means a wide-open door to the East for us… The effects of the British blockade will be decisively weakened.55 This was one reason why Hitler swallowed his pride, supported Russia’s aggression against Finland, which was very unpopular in Germany, and accepted the threat of Soviet troops and airmen setting up bases in the three Baltic countries (to be eventually used against whom but Germany?).