Description: Radio broadcast by Viacheslav Molotov on June 22, 1941, announcing the attack of fascist Germany on the USSR. Noteworthy are accusation that the Germans have violated the Non-Aggression Pact faithfully observed by the Soviets; and the reference to the Fatherland War of 1812, when Napoleon’s Great Army penetrated deep into Russian territory, only to be crushed by the winter and partisans. The former reference would soon disappear from Soviet discourse for fifty years; the latter would be a primary theme of wartime propaganda. Sovkinozhurnal, no.59
Source: Russian State Film & Photo Archive at Krasnogorsk (2000)