Officially, it is believed that the heads of the USSR and the Third Reich have never met in person, communicating exclusively through the mediation of the Foreign Ministers. However, in 1979, the United States declassified documents suggesting otherwise.
Train to Lviv
The reason for the sensation was the FBI's report from Edgar Hoover to Assistant Secretary of State Adolph Burleigh Jr. In the document, the official voiced the fact that Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler met in October 1939 in Lvov. As a result, a secret agreement was allegedly signed, the text of which is still unknown. This fact is indirectly confirmed by the memoirs of a number of famous historians. In particular, to Edward Radzinsky, a certain Lviv railroad worker told about a secret operation, during which the Lviv railway station was cleared of strangers, including residents of neighboring houses. Soon after the cleansing, two letter trains arrived at the station. After standing for several hours, opposite each other, they parted in different directions. Of course, none of the eyewitnesses of this event personally saw either Stalin or Hitler. At the same time, the journal of visits to I. V. Stalin on October 18 and 19 is confirmed by his absence from the workplace. There were no visits during these two days. The plan of meetings for these days and in Hitler's work schedule is empty. In any case, none of those close to him visited him, although the Fuhrer, as you know, adored hours-long meetings.
Sensation or provocation?
Despite the many indirect facts that speak in favor of a possible meeting between Hitler and Stalin in Lvov, there is one "but". By and large, they had no reason to meet. Autumn 1939 is the time of maximum friendship between the USSR and Germany. Both countries successfully partitioned Poland and agreed to a non-aggression. On the other hand, perhaps the opponents wanted to personally look each other in the eye in order to decide how to proceed. It is noteworthy that immediately after his appearance in the Kremlin after a two-day absence, I. V. Stalin gathered all the leadership of the state and told them something important. It is likely that at the meeting, if it actually happened, Hitler managed to convince Stalin that an attack on the USSR was not part of his plans. In this case, it is clear why I. V. Stalin did not believe until the very last moment, in the German attack on the USSR,and when this happened, he was incredibly angry and confused.
In confirmation of the possibility of a meeting between the leaders of the two countries, declassified correspondence between the offices of the leaders of the USSR and Germany also speaks. In it, the parties agree on the possibility of a meeting of the leaders of the two countries just at those numbers that were indicated in the document declassified by the FBI. And first they planned to see each other in September and only then the meeting was postponed to October. It is not known for certain whether it took place or not, but all indirect facts speak in its favor.
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Dmitry Sokolov