If, against all expectation, Germany finds itself in a difficult situation then she can be sure that the Soviet people will come to Germany's aid and will not allow Germany to be strangled. The Soviet Union wants to see a strong Germany and we will not allow Germany to be thrown to the ground.

Said by Stalin during a meeting with the German Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop, shortly after the Soviet Union invaded Poland (28 September 1939), as quoted in World War Two: Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West (2008) by Laurence Rees, p.30-31. This statement was recorded in Gustav Hilger's detailed minutes of the meeting, which remained secret until the 1990s.