Persian Connections in German-Soviet Relations

Speaker: Jennifer Jenkins, University of Southampton Chair: Roham Alvandi, LSE The Nazi-Soviet Pact, a central topic in the scholarship on the Second World War, is generally studied in its political and European dimensions. In this talk, Professor Jenkins takes a new look at the Nazi-Soviet Pact by embedding it in German and Soviet economic policies toward the Near East, specifically with Iran, from the early Weimar period forward. She also explores the history of German-Soviet-Persian economic cooperation in the interwar period, Iran's importance as a zone of cooperation between Germany and the USSR, and its place in the making of the Pact. Recorded on 30 April 2014.