All language subtitles for Forgotten Leaders. Episode 3. Vyacheslav Molotov. Documentary. English Subtitles. StarMediaEN

WITH THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF THE MINISTRY
OF CULTURE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

THE RUSSIAN MILITARY HISTORY SOCIETY

Bykovo village, Moscow
Oblast, USSR. May 19, 1942

In the evening of the 19th of May
of 1942, a Pe-8 bomber took off

from the Bykovo airfield near
Moscow. The plane's centerbody section

had passenger seats temporarily
installed, and the bombs were replaced

with additional fuel tanks. The
crew and the passengers were on

an incredibly dangerous trip
over German-occupied Europe.

The flight was one of the
most guarded secrets of WWII.

Even the plane's commander had had
no idea that a Soviet delegation

headed by People's Commissary for
Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov

would end up onboard. The route
was extremely risky, and the odds

of reaching their
destination safely were slim.

In 10 hours' time they landed in
Northern Scotland, and in one day,

Molotov arrived to London for talks
with the British Prime Minister.

Vyacheslav Molotov lived until the
age of 96, longer than any other

Soviet government member. He joined
the party as a boy, staying loyal

to the communist ideals to his
last day. He was barred from

working in the Party and had to
fight for restoring his position.

He led the Soviet government and
was in charge of foreign policy…

but he said he was “not a real
diplomat.” When his will was opened

"upon his death, the envelope
contained his savings bank book;"

500 rubles for his funeral was
the entirety of his savings.

LAND OF THE SOVIETS. FORGOTTEN LEADERS.

VYACHESLAV MOLOTOV.

Vyacheslav Molotov's real last
name was Skryabin, and he would

say about himself: “Us Vyatka
folks are hard as oaks.”

He was born on March 9, 1890 in
Kukarka Sloboda of Vyatka Governorate.

His mother Anna Nebogatikova was
from a wealthy merchant family,

and his father Mikhail Skryabin
served as its estate manager.

Vyacheslav was the sixth
out of seven children.

He grew up mischievous and cocky.

Vyacheslav was expelled from school
at age seven for disruptive behavior.

After the family moved to Nolinsk,
later be renamed to Molotovsk,

he had four years of a
municipal training school.

Then he was admitted into a
non-classical secondary school in Kazan.

Young Vyacheslav's achievements
in math and natural sciences

brought his parents joy, and they
never suspected that their son

had already started his
revolutionary activity by then…

The provincial Nolinsk was full
of people in political exile.

Vyacheslav would come here during
school breaks to see his family.

It was here that he met his
cousin's husband, a prominent

Kazan Bolshevik Andrei Kulesh.
The young man joined the ranks of

social democrats, and from
that day, his entire life served

only one thing: the Party.

After returning to Kazan to
study, Vyacheslav founded the

Secondary School Students'
Revolutionary Organization.

A committee was elected, and
Vecha, as his friends called him,

became its chairman. The organization
accepted social democrats,

Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists
– anyone who shared the ideal

of overthrowing the monarchy.

In Kazan, Skryabin shared
his room with four brothers.

He was unpretentious in daily life,
but he was busy at every moment.

Besides studying at the
secondary school and managing

the secret society, he played
the violin and studied at a

free musical school of a
local charitable merchant.

He was supposed to graduate summa
cum laude, but one day before

the final exams, Vyacheslav's parents
found out their son was expelled

from the secondary school for
revolutionary activity and arrested.

From Molotov's memoirs:

“When I was little, father
would beat me like a drum.

“He would lock me up in the
closet, pick up a fleece,

“all the good stuff. When I
was arrested for the first time,

“he came with a visitation.”

Vyacheslav and his associates
were sentenced to exile in the

Vologda Governorate. Along with
Skryabin, his closest friend

Aleksandr Arosev is sent there.
In Tsarist Russia, life in exile

was barely different from normal
life. The exiled even received wages:

8 rubles, and those with a secondary
education like Vyacheslav, 11,

which is roughly $170 when
converted to modern currency.

It was permitted to pass exams in
exile: the rationale was that if

a person wanted education, it
meant they dreamed of a career,

not of revolution.

From Molotov's memoirs:

“It was easy to escape from exile.
Sometimes the constable tells

“you to appear, sometimes
he can't be bothered with it.

“I decided to do all of my
time the first time I was exiled

“because I wanted to graduate
from secondary school.”

Despite his history of exile,
Vyacheslav was accepted to the

Shipbuilding Department of the
Petersburg Polytechnic Institute,

which was one of its most
prestigious departments. However,

he transferred to Economics soon after.

Statistics and Economical
Geography were the classes that

really interested the young Marxist.

St Petersburg, Russian Empire, 1912

He would only pass the exams
that allowed him to go from one

Department to another, and put much
more emphasis on self-education.

Colossal perseverance, patience and
self-discipline were his integral

qualities for his entire life.
These traits would be recognized

by his friends and his enemies,
his contemporaries and historians.

In 1912 Bolsheviks begin printing
their first legal newspaper, Pravda.

Molotov assigned the post of
the editorial staff secretary.

He also met Iosif Djugashvili there
for the first time. Their meeting

was in passing, they would only
become friends and comrades later.

From Molotov’s memoirs:

“I left and Stalin arrived
to the place of my exile,

“we missed each other. But
we began correspondence.

“And when we met each other,
we shared the apartment.

“Then he stole my girlfriend.
So Marusya ran away to him.”

Throughout the next few years
Molotov worked as a journalist

and a propagandist. In those
years, Pravda always had a so-called

chief editor for arrests. The
reason for that is, every new

call for revolution would cost the
newspaper either a 500 rubles fine

or three months of prison
for the chief editor.

There was simply no money
to pay the fine, so instead,

simple workers would agree in advance
to play the part of the editor.

Pravda would go through editors
one after another, and the one

in charge of the staff was
Skryabin. His propaganda articles

were published under the pen
names Ryabin, Mikhailov, Zvanov…

As WWI raged, he moved to
Moscow, where his new last name

finally stuck for good. Molotov,
coming from the Russian for hammer,

sounded proletarian and industrial.
There were also other reasons

for changing his last name.

From Molotov’s memoirs:

“My last name Skryabin is
very hard for me to pronounce

“when I get nervous. So I picked
the simplest last name, easy to

“pronounce. I was torn between
calling myself Makhov and Molotov.”

In 1915, 18 months before final
exams at the Polytechnic Institute,

Vyacheslav Molotov was arrested
again. A year later, he ran

and returned to St Petersburg. To
protect himself from another arrest,

Molotov used other people’s passports.

There were no pictures in the
papers back then, so in five months,

he went through six last names.

Aleksandr Arosyev came to his aid
as well after being conscripted.

It was he who gave his passport
to his comrade and helped him

get a job with the Modern
World journal. Meanwhile,

February of 1917 neared…

By the start of the February
Revolution, Molotov was

one of the leaders of
the Bolshevik Party.

Together with Stalin he became one
of the most loyal of Lenin’s allies

in preparing the Bolshevist coup.

And after the October revolt,
he was elected to the Petrograd

Military Revolutionary Committee.

Molotov’s views, way of
thinking and his very fate,

same as the fate of every
Bolshevik of his generation,

was forever defined by the
Civil War. A horror unseen before

that fell upon the former empire
left no room for compromise.

Those who did not escape the
country had to make a choice.

The war spared no one.
Neither did the Bolsheviks…

Molotov had held the highest offices
in Nizhny Novgorod Governorate

and the Volga area, handled the
national economy, propaganda, and even

served in special forces having
joined the military wing of the Party.

In March of 1921 the 10th
Congress of the Bolshevik Party

declared the Civil War over.
Molotov became Executive Secretary

of the Central Committee of the
Party. Only a year passed before

this position, whose name was
changed to General Secretary,

went to Joseph Stalin
after he was elected.

1921 was important for
Molotov’s personal life, as well.

At the 2nd Women’s Communist
Conference in Moscow,

he met Polina Zhemchuzhina…

From Molotov’s memoirs:

“Polina did underground work in
the Ukraine. She is from Zaporozhye.

“In the summer of 1921, I
got married. Before that,

“I had no time for that
business. I was a bachelor.

“My suitcase traveled along with me.”

Polina was the daughter
of a Jewish tailor,

her real name was Perl
Karpovskaya. Her brother, Sam Karp,

emigrated to the USA
before the start of WWI,

where he became a
successful entrepreneur.

In 1930s, he would
often be the middlemen in

Soviet-American trade
negotiations, and he would stay

at the apartment of his
sister and his brother-in-law.

At first the Molotovs shared
a communal apartment with

Stalin and his wife Nadezhda
Alliluyeva. In 1926, when Molotov’s

daughter was born, he named
her exactly like Stalin

had named his own daughter in
February of the same year: Svetlana.

The wives of the leaders of
the Soviet state became friends.

It was Polina who was the last
person Alliluyeva would talk to

before her suicide.

Nadezhda Alliluyeva shot
herself in November of 1932.

That suicide gave birth to many
rumors. According to one version,

the reason was a severe illness
that went with powerful headaches.

After Lenin’s death, Molotov
completely supported Stalin

in his struggle against Trotsky.
By then, his limitless tenacity

in political negotiations and
meticulousness in bureaucracy

had already earned him
the nickname Stone Butt.

Later the same qualities brought
him both fame and no shortage

of enemies in the international
diplomatic circles.

Having become Minister of Foreign
Affairs, he would drive his staff

insane with endless rewrites the
texts of diplomatic documents.

The habit to never betray his
principles and always stick to his guns

always remained the most
important one in Molotov’s life.

He was sure of doing the right
thing in the 1930s many years later.

Vyacheslav Molotov found himself
at the center of a tight program

of modernizing the state and
collectivizing its agriculture.

Industrialization turned the
Soviet Union into the largest

industrial country in the
world, but it led to a drop

in the quality of life, discontent
and resistance from the population.

The situation in the country
was worsened by the beginning

of a period of serious terror.

Aleksandr Arosyev, revolutionary,
Chekist, diplomat, stayed

Vyacheslav Molotov’s closest
friend. They went through

arrests and exile together.

From the memoirs of
Aleksandr’s daughter Olga:

“On Sundays, Vyacheslav Molotov
would call, sometimes he would send

“his big government-issue car, and
we would go to his state dacha.”

But Party decisions still took
precedence over friendship for Molotov.

When Arosyev realized he could be
arrested, he called his high-ranking

friend several times to
ask for help and protection.

From Olga Arosyeva’s memoirs:

“Father called Molotov, ‘Vecha, I’m
asking you to tell me what to do.’

“Molotov hanged up. After many more
calls Molotov finally picked up.

“He only said one sentence:
‘Find a place for your kids.’

“Father walked away from the
phone and said, ‘That’s it.’

“He decided against
waiting for his own arrest.

“He put his secretary in the car,
told the driver to go to Lubyanka.

“Dad never came back from
Yezhov, whom he had known

“from Civil War days.”

On February 10, 1938, Aleksandr
Arosyev was put before a firing squad.

Like other Politburo members,
Molotov would sign so-called

execution lists and orders for
arrest. Towards the end of his life,

passers-by, who would often
recognize him, sometimes shouted

things with words like “butcher”
or “murderer” as he walked away.

Molotov’s reaction to that was
restrained. In his interviews he

admitted that there were
overreactions, but then he would add:

“It was either us or them.”

From Molotov’s memoirs:

“Of course, we made a real mess
of things. Saying that Stalin

“didn’t know anything about it
would be absurd, saying that he

“was the only responsible would
be wrong. Our Party careerism

“played its part, everyone was
trying to hold onto his place.

“I’ve always considered Stalin
and ourselves responsible,

“those who approved, who were
proactive. And I was always proactive,

“I would always advocate taking
measures. I’ve never regretted

“my harsh actions and I never will.”

Molotov headed the Government
in the years when the country

was having a major economical
breakthrough. During industrialization

in the 30s, industrial output grew
by 850%. Even though the numbers

in official reports were
somewhat exaggerated,

the facts spoke for themselves.
Tens of thousands of new factories

were built, a plethora of dams,
canals, roads and railroads.

The urban population grew by 30
million people. Collectivization

was taking off in the agricultural
sector. However, forced creation

of kolkhozes and taking foodstuffs
away from the peasants led to

several areas of the Soviet
Union being struck with famine.

The Soviet leadership was only
trying to find effective tools

for governing the country
in socialist conditions.

Neighboring states were clearly
hostile and suspicious towards USSR.

That was why agent networks of
foreign intelligence services

were active all over the country.
It was obvious that a new war

was coming, but neither the economy
nor the military of the country

were ready for it. Molotov,
like other leaders of the state,

realized that modernization of
the industry and reinforcement

of the defense forces
had to happen at any cost.

By 1938, Soviet military
production grew 70-fold.

However, even that was
woefully inadequate.

Documents show that on the brink
of WWII Soviet war leaders, while

assessing the strength of the Red
Army, were trying to understand

whether it was capable of
beating back Romania and Poland.

USSR was still unprepared to repel
an attack from a powerful enemy.

Only one thing left capable
of preventing the war,

or at least delaying it: diplomacy.

The Commisariat for Foreign
Affairs had to be led by someone

capable of achieving that task.

By that time, the situation
in Europe had become menacing.

After Hitler’s rise to power,
Germany’s military power kept growing.

In March of 1938, Austria was
merged into it with a tacit approval

from France and Great Britain. Hitler
instantly laid territorial claim

to Czechoslovakia, demanding
that Sudetenland join Germany.

The Soviet Union issued a
proposition to provide armed forces

to Czechoslovakia for its defense.

But those forces would have to
march through Polish territory,

which Poland adamantly
refused to let happen.

Polish ambassador in Paris
Juzef Lukasiewicz stated

that Poland would declare war
on the USSR if the Red Army

were to move through Polish
land to help the Czechs.

September 27, 1938: Hitler informed
the British and French ambassadors

that the German “operation” against
Czechoslovakia would take place

the next day. British Prime
Minister Chamberlain assured Hitler

that he could get it
peacefully and in due haste.

Molotov and Stalin get news from Munich.

On September 30, Chamberlain and
the Prime Minister of France Daladier

sign a treaty with Hitler and
Mussolini as per which the Sudeten went

to Germany. Only after that were
actual Czechoslovak representatives

let into the chamber where
the treaty was being signed.

Czechoslovak delegates’
signatures weren’t even needed,

they were simply handed the
document, their protests ignored.

Soviet representatives weren’t
invited to Munich. Chamberlain declared

that he would sooner resign than
sign a treaty with the Soviets.

He preferred an alliance with Hitler.

Future Prime Minister of Great
Britain Winston Churchill,

upon finding out about the
signing of the Munich treaty, said:

“England was given a choice
between war and dishonor.

“It chose dishonor,
and it will have war.”

France and England provide
Hitler with the weapons he was

supposed to aim at the Soviet Union.

In 1938 Czechoslovak industry was
among the most developed in Europe.

From the start of the German
occupation and until the war with Poland

its factories produced almost
as many military goods as

the entire industry of Great
Britain. At the beginning of the war,

the German army commanded a
significant number of Czech tanks.

Soviet leadership had no choice
but to guarantee its own safety.

11 months left until
the beginning of WWII…

May 3 1939, Molotov is appointed
Commissary for Foreign Affairs.

His predecessor Maksim Litvinov
was famous around the world:

he was a known fighter for peace,
collective safety and restraining

Nazi aggression. But the situation
called for different solutions.

Not only did not Molotov end the
talks with Britain and France,

he continued them with more
vigor. Those negotiations were his

school of diplomacy. During that
time, he demonstrated the traits

that earned him his fame
in the diplomatic circles:

high attention to detail,
knowing how to defend his point,

and perseverance in
reaching his objective.

Molotov would say he was “not a
real diplomat.” But it was he who

created one of the best
diplomatic systems in the world.

He seriously changed to the staff
of Commisariat for Foreign Affairs.

Having extremely high standards for
himself, he had them just as high

for his employees.

People devoted to their trade
came to work at the Commisariat.

The workers never saw scheduled
work hours nor days off

in the general understanding of
the word. As they say, they have to

always be working. Day and night.

Their wages were no higher
than the country average.

However, they were required
to be completely selfless,

competent, responsible in resolving
the problems they were given.

Many people couldn’t
handle the stress and left.

Only the best and the
most resilient stayed.

As the workers of the institution
themselves would say, Molotov

managed to create a sort of
“knight order of Soviet diplomacy.”

The awareness of belonging to
that order would stay in Russian

diplomacy for a long time. Out of
those who started work with Molotov

many later became famous
state figures, such as future

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Andrei Gromyko and many others.

In 1938, the Soviet
government had two ways of

ensuring the country’s safety: either
joining forces with the European

countries or signing a treaty with
Germany like France and Britain.

No one thought German
guarantees of peace were genuine,

but a treaty could delay the
beginning of the war, which was

extremely important for the USSR.

Molotov understood
the risks for the USSR.

Germany would certainly attack Poland.

In 1939 Poland owned sizable
Ukrainian and Belorussian territories,

where 6 million of ethnic
Belarusians and Ukrainians lived.

If German forces were to occupy
Poland, only 250km would stand

between them and the capital
of Soviet Ukraine, Kiev, and

no more than 50 from Minsk, the
capital of Soviet Belorussia.

Another danger came from the
North, where only a few kilometers

separated German ally
Finland and Leningrad.

A major industrial and strategic
center of the USSR was under threat

of capture at the very
beginning of the war.

The first meeting between
Molotov and the British ambassador

took place on May 8, 1939.

Less than 4 months remained
until the beginning of WWII.

The British demanded an official
declaration of support to

Britain and France in case of a
German attack on Romania and Poland.

Molotov was willing, but he
wanted to hear similar guarantees

from England in case the Baltic
countries were threatened.

Neither the British nor the French
would give any such guarantees.

A telegram from Molotov to Soviet
ambassadors in London and Paris:

“As you can see, the English
and the French demand unilateral

“and free help from us without
agreeing to provide equal help.”

Just as fruitless were the
trilateral talks between

the USSR, France and Britain in Moscow.

Two months remained before
the beginning of WWII…

June of 1939 was beginning. Molotov
suggested to France and Britain

they begin discussing military
missions. They agreed, but their missions

only left for Moscow
on the 5th of August.

Incredibly, they picked the longest
possible route: to Lengingrad by sea,

and by train from there. They only
made it to Moscow on August 11.

Twenty days remained until
the beginning of the war…

Kliment Voroshilov represented
the Soviet side of the talks.

It turned out that Admiral Drax
who headed the British delegation

didn’t actually have any
authority to sign papers.

The English Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain hoped to use

the talks as a way to pressure
Hitler and prolonged them as much

as he could. It was obvious
there was nothing to talk about

with the British.

Right during the talks Voroshilov
receives a note from Stalin's

secretary: “Klim, Koba said
to tell you to wrap it up.”

The Soviet Union had to
negotiate with Germany

whether it wanted to or
not. On August 23 of 1939,

German Minister of Foreign
Affairs Ioachim von Ribbentrop

arrived to Moscow.

Seven days remained until the war.

Ribbentrop's meeting with Stalin
and Molotov lasted three hours.

Around 2AM both Foreign
Ministers in Molotov's office

signed the documents with
yesterday's date on them.

Signatories pledged to abstain
from attacking, to uphold neutrality

should one of the sides become
the object of military action

taken out by a third party. They
also would not join alliances

directed against the other
party. The treaty also had a

classified protocol demarking
spheres of interest in Eastern Europe

in case of “territorial or
political reorganization.”

The protocol would see the inclusion
of Latvia, Estonia, Finland,

Bessarabia and East Poland into
the Soviet sphere of influence.

Lithuania and Poland were part of
the sphere of influence of Germany.

The document later dubbed
the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

was the cause of many heated
discussions even decades later.

Was signing it a Sovie
attempt at delaying the war or

was it in cahoots with fascists?

“The desire to stave off the war
by at least 6 months was great.

“Naturally, every person who kept
abreast of the problems of that time

“had that desire. No one who
was in a position like Stalin's

“had the right to make a mistake.
It was all done to deny the Germans

“an excuse to start the war.”

On August 31, 1939, at a special
session of the Supreme Soviet,

the treaty was ratified.

Several hours remained until the war.

The next day, Germany started
World War II by attacking Poland.

One day later, Britain and
France declared war on Germany.

On September 17, a speech by
Vyacheslav Molotov broadcast

on the radio informed the
Soviet citizens that the Red Army

had entered Western
Ukraine and Western Belarus.

Along the new border of the
Soviet Union, fortification lines

were being built which Western
media later called the Molotov Line.

Thanks to the Soviet-German
treaty, the USSR border was moved

hundreds of kilometers to the
west. In 1941 this would play

a decisive role in defending
the country, and also in foiling

the German plan of surrounding
and capturing Moscow.

No one had any doubt that a war
with Germany was going to happen.

The leader were doing whatever it
could to buy time before it began.

Moscow was trying to convince
Hitler that USSR upheld the treaty.

On the 9th of September Molotov
congratulated the German leader

with having his forces enter
Warsaw. In April of 1940 he expressed

his understanding and wished
Hitler good luck after German forces

invaded Norway and Denmark. The
Soviet Union's reaction was the same

when Belgium, Netherlands
and Luxembourg were captured.

The USSR took action to remove
the potential springboards

for future aggression coming from
the Baltic Countries and Finland.

Treaties were signed with the
governments of Estonia, Latvia

and Lithuania, according to
which Soviet military bases were

established on their territories.

In Finland, which was unwilling
to compromise with the USSR,

military action started, and by
March 1940, when peace was signed,

the USSR managed to move the border
almost 150km away from Leningrad.

However, German forces soon
appeared on the Finnish side.

When German armies came
right up to the Soviet border,

Stalin sent Molotov to Berlin for
talks. He was the only one out of

all Soviet leaders who
got to shake Hitler's hand.

From Molotov's memoirs:

“Hitler... There was nothing in his
looks that struck you right away.

“But a very self-satisfied, you
could say even say self-obsessed man.

“In the films they focus on his
outside, they show him as insane,

“a lunatic, and that isn't true.
He was very intelligent, but

“small-minded and dumb due to his
narcissism and the absurdity of

“his basic idea.”

The Fuhrer refused to discuss
the subjects Molotov proposed.

The country had to prepare for war.

On June 22 of 1945, at 12 PM, every
radio in the country transmitted

People's Comissary Vyacheslav
Molotov's address to his country.

It was he who announced the
German attack on the USSR.

He said the words that came to
symbolize early Great Patriotic War:

“Our cause is just. The enemy will
be defeated. Victory will be ours.”

On May 6 of 1941, Stalin himself
became head of the Soviet Government.

Molotov became his assistant.
It was in that capacity that he

became one of the original members
of the State Defense Committee.

Molotov was put in charge of
serious diplomatic responsibilities:

negotiating with leaders of Great
Britain, USA and other countries.

In May of 1942, Molotov flew
out to London to establish

an Anglo-Soviet military alliance.
The potentially fatal flight

over enemy territory without
fighter plane escort with a passenger

had to happen due to extraordinary
circumstance: talks with

the British Prime Minister Churchill
and American President Roosevelt

in the mail lead to nothing.

A personal meeting had to happen.

There was little hope that
it would be productive.

But there was no other option.

The flight to Great Britain on
the Pe-8 plane under the command of

pilot Endel Pusep crossed
the front lines and even areas

under German military occupation.

To stay unnoticed in the sky,
they risked their lives flying

at record height at the time,
with air temperature reaching -50C.

After a 10 hour flight the crew and
its passengers landed in Scotland.

Molotov's visit to England became
historic as the first ever flight

abroad by a member of the
Government of the USSR, and singing

a treaty about military alliance
in the war and post-war cooperation

became one of the most important
events of the fight against Nazism.

After that, Molotov had to
cross the ocean to USA for

talks at the White House. On
the return flight from the USA

to Great Britain for anouther
round of negotiation with Churchill,

the weather suddenly worsened and
the plane ran into storm clouds.

Congelation began.

The bomber was being shaked so hard
that a disaster seemed imminent.

From Winston Churchill's memoirs:

“It was the spring of 1942,
when he stopped in England

“on the way back from the
United States. He had a dangerous

“flight back home in front of him.
At the garden gate on Downing St,

“which we used in order
to conceal the secret,

“I squeezed his hand with force
and we looked each other in the eye.

“Suddenly, he seemed very
moved to me. It was about

“living or dying together.”

On the 12 of June of 1942,
Vyacheslav Molotov returns to Moscow,

having completed the dangerous
trekabove the ocean and enemy lines.

His work wasn't restricted to
Diplomacy. As one of the members of the

government, Molotov was personally
responsible for tank production.

The USSR had lost several of the
biggest tank factories by then

in Kharkov, Stalingrad and other
cities. New factories had to be

constructed in the Urals and in Siberia.

Despite this, tank industry led
by Moloto produced over 95 thousand

tanks and self-propelled artillery
platforms. The German industry

only produced 53800.

When the decision to create an
atomic bomb was made in February 1943,

Vyacheslav Molotov was put
in charge of the project.

Due to efforts by Vyacheslav
Molotov and his Commisariat,

the anti-Hitler coalition with Great
Britain and USA was finally created.

He initiated contact with the
Free France movement which was

led by General de Gaulle.

Molotov was one of the people who
deserve the credit for setting up

and hosting Allied forums:
the Moscow Conference of three

Foreign Ministers in 1943, Tehran
summits, and after the war, Potsdam.

Vyacheslav Molotov always considered
himself more of a politician

than a diplomat. Among other
reasons, because he couldn't speak any

foreign languages properly
and all of his negotiations

were handled through an interpreter.

Many photographs show him with
a cigarette, but he was never

a serious smoker: it was
a trick to fill the pause

while he was being translated.

At official meetings, he would
avoid small talk, setting up

a businesslike state of mind
in his conversational partner.

Winston Churchill called him “a
human who perfectly represented

“the modern conception of a robot.”

Molotov was still true to himself
and concentrated on solving

the task at hand at any cost.
Like always, during talks he would

turn out to be the most
attentive and competent opponent.

The crisis point Molotov's life and
career was the arrest of his wife

Polina Zhemchuzhina. There are
many theories as to why Stalin

imprisoned the wife
of his closest comrade.

She was accused of connections
with the Zionist organization

and Prime Minister of Israel Golda
Meir. At one Politburo session,

Stalin personally brought up her
anti-Soviet and pro-Jewish activity.

At first Molotov abstained from
voting, but then he supported the

opinion of the majority, admitting
“serious guilt in not restraining

“Zhemchuzhina, who is
family, from her missteps.”

Polina Zhemchuzhina was
expelled from the Party.

She was arrested in January of
1949. but the politically charged

accusation of state treason
was changed to a criminal one:

as it went, when she was Head
of Administration of Ministry

of consumer industry, she was
caught stealing. As a result,

she was exiled to Kostanay,
Kazakh SSR, for 5 years.

Forever a loyal Stalinist,
Zhemchuzhina told her husband:

“If the Party thinks that we should
divorce, then that is what's best

“for us and for the Party.”

Molotov had practically
no information about

what happened to her afterward.
Beria alone would sometimes

whisper “Polina is alive!”
as he walked past him.

From Molotov's memoirs:

“It was great luck to have her as
a wife. Both beautiful and smart,

“but most importantly, a true
Bolshevik, a true Soviet citizen.

“Her life went bad for her
because she was my wife.

“She was a casualty of difficult
times, but she understood everything,

“and not only did she not criticize
Stalin, she wouldn't even listen

“when others did.”|

Right after the end of the war,
Stalin became to take issue with

the work of his closest comrade:
he thought Molotov acted too soft

under the pressure of Western
countries, which went from Allies

during the war to
rivals in the Cold War.

Despite all that, Vyacheslav
Moloto continued to handle Soviet

foreign policy, solving complex
international issues with

the determination characteristic
for him. He actively researched

new possibilities of a peace
treaty with Germany, advocated the

unification of both states,
West and East Germany, through

a general election. But Stalin
kept seeing excessive softness

towards their former allies.
Once he even accused Molotov of

sabotaging the country's
prestige so he could win favor

with the international circles.
Later Molotov proposed to give back

the treasures of the Dresden Gallery,
saved after the February 1945

bombing and partially restore
in the USSR. In 1956 and 1960,

the collection was returned to
the German people in installments.

Vyacheslav Molotov put a lot of
effort into changing the image

of the USSR in the eyes of the
West. He would go to New York

to take part in UN work. The
longstanding political isolation

in which the USSR had
existed was finally broken.

But with time, Stalin stopped
inviting Vyacheslav Molotov

to his dacha where the most
important problems would be discussed.

On March 4 of 1949, Molotov
was let go from the post

of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The day of Stalin's burial, 9th of
March, coincided with Molotov's birthday.

After the mourning rally,
others wished him happy birthday

and asked what wanted
for it. Molotov said,

“Give me Polina back.”

In March of 1953 Polina
Zhemchuzhina was released

and returned to her husband.

They spent another 17 years together.

“So that the entire Party, the
entire people guided by our Party,

“under Lenin's flag, progresses
confidently in building Communism...”

In June 1953, Molotov was appointed
Minister of Foreign Affairs again.

After Stalin's death, he supported
Nikita Khrushchev in his decision

to arrest Lavrentiy Beria and fire
Georgiy Malenkov from the job of

Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union.
By that time, the chasm between

the East and the West had grown.

There were constant
talks of a new war...

...a nuclear one.

For one, American Army General
Douglas MacArthur advocated a

nuclear bombing of China as early
as in 1950, during the Korean War.

In the times of Khrushchev's
Thaw, Molotov's personal authority

helped organize several meetings
at the highest level that eased

international tensions. It was
due to Molotov's efforts at the

Geneva Conference of 1954
that the war in Indochina,

waged by France supported by
USA, was stopped. Next year,

in 1955, again in Geneva, there was
a council of the heads of state of

four countries on ensuring
collective safety in Europe.

Even though the summit yielded no
practical results, it was the first

major initiative in establishing
a dialogue between the rival powers

following the end of WWII.

Soon, Molotov and Khrushchev
began to disagree on many points.

Among other things, they
concerned foreign policy and the

viability of the Virgin Lands Campaign.

Molotov was against the Party
constantly meddling with the economy

and against including Crimea
into the Ukrainian SSR.

It culminated with Molotov heading
the so-called Anti-Party Group

in 1957 against Khrushchev. After
joining forces with Kaganovich

and Malenkov, he attempted
to depose Khrushchev.

But Khrushchev's cohorts
turned out to be savvier.

They called a Central Committee plenum
where the Anti-Party Group was defeated.

Molotov was fired from all posts
and expelled from Central Committee.

The three cities named after
him were renamed in 1957.

Soon Molotov was even
expelled from the Party.

Polina Zhemchuzhina admitted once:

“I'm a Party member, old Communist,
I have a 120 ruble pension.

“But Vecha got expelled from the
Party. So today, I support him.”

She died in 1970.

All Vyacheslav Molotov has
left is his daughter Svetlana

and his little grandson Slava.

In the times of the
Revolution, Vyacheslav Molotov

received Party Membership card #5.

And now, the oldest of all
Party members had to fight for

being restored to its ranks.
It only happened in 1984.

The new Party Membership
card was awarded to him

by General Secretary of the Central
Committee Konstantin Chernenko.

From Olga Arosyeva's memoirs:

"When Molotov turned 85, I called
to wish him a happy birthday."

'What's so happy
about it?' he asks me."

'What do you mean? You're
85! What an anniversary!'

'What's there to celebrate? When
your life is useless, it's a burden,"

'and you don't enjoy it at all."

To a workaholic, someone used to
serving the Party and the Cause

from an early age, being let go
was one of the harshest blows.

When he was already a widower,
Molotov would invariably toast to

"the same three things: "To Comrade
Stalin! To Polina! To Communism!"

He lived to the age of 96, suffering
7 heart attacks in his long life.

On the 8th of November, 1986,
a man died in a Moscow hospital

exactly 69 years after standing next
to Lenin at Smolny as he declared

the Republic of the Soviets.

By then, Mikhail Gorbachev
was already in charge.

He was buried next to his wife's
grave at the Novodevichye cemetery.

After his death, his apartment
and dacha were sealed, and KGB

took all of the papers out of there.

His descendants only
have his selected memories

noted down by the political
journalist Felix Chuyev.

Molotov would sometimes share
them at his apartment, but mostly

at his dacha in Zhukovka,
where he would take walks and

tapping the ground
with his walking stick.

The walking stick British
ambassador Archibald Kerr

gifted the head of Soviet
diplomacy once upon a time.