Status and Prospects for Research on Soviet Union Propaganda and Information Policy with regard to the Crisis in Polish-German Relations and Invasion of Poland During the Period from Mid-October 1938 till December 1939

This article is an effort to analyse the status of research on information policies and propaganda of the Soviet Union with regard to the Second Polish Republic from mid-October 1938 till the end of 1939. After the review and evaluation of available subject literature, mainly prints published during the last 40 years, the status of research should be assessed as unsatisfactory. Under current political and security conditions, it is difficult to foresee any additional efforts to explore and evaluate sources that would be necessary and useful to examine issues related to Soviet propaganda actions on Poland. However, this specific problem (which will continue to exist in the foreseeable future), with no possibility to get access to Russian libraries and archives, could be partially addressed by research in Western archives as well as in libraries and archives in some former Soviet republics (Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan). It could be additionally complemented by detailed exploration and evaluation of Polish press and Polish diplomatic documents. Even with such a limited range of activities possible in the East, building the in-depth synthesis of the Soviet propaganda with regard to Poland during the period covered by the project is not only important and expedient measure, but it would be also useful and necessary.