Editing Anti-Comintern Pact (section)

=== Texts of the Anti-Comintern Pact and its protocols ===

==== Main agreement ====
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| quote = The Government of the German Reich and the Imperial Japanese Govemment, recognizing that the aim of the Communist International, known as the Comintern, is to disintegrate and subdue existing States by all means at its command; convinced that the toleration of interference by the Communist International in the internal affairs of the nations not only endangers their internal peace and social well being, but is also a menace to the peace of the world; desirous of cooperating in the defence against Communist subversion; have agreed as follows

Article 1: The High Contracting States agree to inform one another of the activities of the Communist International, to consult with one another on the necessary preventive measures and to carry these through in close collaboration.

Article 2: The High Contracting Parties will jointly invite third States whose internal peace is threatened by the subversive activities of the Communist International to adopt defensive measures in the spirit of this agreement or to take part in the present agreement.

Article 3: The German as well as the Japanese text of the present agreement is to be deemed the original text. It comes into force on the day of signature and shall remain in force for a period of five years. Before the expiry of this period the High Contracting Parties will come to an understanding over the further methods of their cooperation.
| source = Presseisen, Ernst L. (1958). Germany and Japan: A Study in Totalitarian Diplomacy 1933–1941. Den Haag: Springer-Science + Business Media. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-6590-9. {{ISBN|9789401765909}}. p. 327.
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| title = The German-Japanese Agreement against the Communist International [25 Nov 1936]
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}}The full text was considered in its original form in both the German and Japanese versions, and the date was specified in both countries' versions as 25 November 1936 as well as 25 November in the 11th year of the [[Shōwa period]]. The agreement bears the signatures of German ambassador-at-large Ribbentrop and Japanese ambassador to Germany Mushanokōji. The initial length of the treaty was specified to be five years.<ref name="Hofer-1982" />{{Rp|188–189}}<ref name="Presseisen-1958" />{{Rp|328–329}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yale Law School |title=German-Japanese Agreement and Supplementary Protocol, Signed at Berlin, November 25, 1936 |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/tri1.asp |access-date=26 Sep 2019 |website=Yale Law School}}</ref> This reduced length was one of the concessions made after the objections of the Japanese foreign ministry to the initial Bayreuth draft of the treaty, in which the treaty was at first supposed to have a duration of ten years.<ref name="Boyd-1977" />{{Rp|65–69}}
In the first article of the treaty, Germany and Japan agreed to share information about Comintern activities and to plan their operations against such activities jointly. In the second article, the two parties opened the possibility of extending the pact to other countries "whose domestic peace is endangered by the disruptive activities of the Communist Internationale". Such invitations to third parties would be undertaken jointly and after the expressed consent by both parties. German state media referred to this provision of endangerment by Comintern disruption when, among other examples, the ''Völkischer Beobachter'' recounted various communist activities in Hungary and Manchukuo as the reason for the two countries to join the pact in February 1939.<ref name="VB-1939" />

==== Protocol supplement ====
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| quote = On the occasion of the signing today of the agreement against the Communist International, the undersigned Plenipotentiaries have agreed as follows:

a) The competent authorities of the two High Contracting States will work in close collaboration in matters concerning the exchange of information over the activities of the Communist International as well as investigatory and defensive measures against the Communist International.

b) The competent authorities of the two High Contracting States will within the framework of the existing laws take severe measures against those who at home or abroad are engaged directly or indirectly in the service of the Communist International or promote its subversive activities.

c) In order to facilitate the cooperation of the competent authorities provided for in paragraph (a) a permanent committee will be set up. In this committee the further defensive measures necessary for the struggle against the subversive adivities of the Communist International will be considered and discussed.
| source = Presseisen, Ernst L. (1958). Germany and Japan: A Study in Totalitarian Diplomacy 1933–1941. Den Haag: Springer-Science + Business Media. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-6590-9. {{ISBN|9789401765909}}. pp. 327–328.
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| title = Supplementary Protocol [to the German-Japanese Agreement against the Communist International] [25 Nov 1936]
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}}A supplementary protocol was signed along with the agreement on the same day, 25 November 1936/Shōwa 11. Just like the main agreement, it bears the signatures of Ribbentrop and Mushanokōji.<ref name="Hofer-1982" />{{Rp|188–189}}<ref name="Presseisen-1958" />{{Rp|327–328}}<ref name="Yale Law-2006">{{Cite web |title=Supplementary Protocol to the Agreement Guarding Against the Communistic International |url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/tri2.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060527155258/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/tri2.htm |archive-date=27 May 2006 |access-date=26 Sep 2019 |website=Yale Law School}}</ref>

In the first article, German and Japan agreed to have their competent authorities "closely co-operate in the exchange of reports on the activities of [...] and on measures of information and defense against" the Comintern. The two contracting parties also agreed, in the second article, to have their competent authorities "within the framework of the existing law [...] take stringent measures against those who at home or abroad work on direct or indirect duty" of the Comintern.<ref name="Yale Law-2006" />

==== Secret additional protocol ====
{{Quote box
| quote = The Government of the German Reich and the Imperial Japanese Government, recognizing that the Government of the U.S.S.R. is working toward
a realization of the aims of the Communist International and intends to employ its army for this purpose; convinced that this fact threatens not
only the existence of the High Contracting States, but endangers world peace most seriously; in order to safeguard their common interests have agreed as follows:

Article 1: Should one of the High Contracting States become the object of an unprovoked attack or threat of attack by the U.S.S.R., the other High Contracting State obligates itself to take no measures which would tend to ease the situation of the U.S.S.R. Should the case described in paragraph 1 occur, the High Contracting States will immediately consult on what measures to take to safeguard their common interests.

Article 2: For the duration of the present agreement the High Contracting States will conclude no political treaties with the U.S.S.R. contrary to the spirit of this agreement without mutual consent.

Article 3: The German as well as the Japanese text of the present agreement is to be deemed the original text. The agreement comes into force simultaneously with the agreement against the Communist International signed today and will remain in force for the same period.
| source = Presseisen, Ernst L. (1958). Germany and Japan: A Study in Totalitarian Diplomacy 1933–1941. Den Haag: Springer-Science + Business Media. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-6590-9. {{ISBN|9789401765909}}. p. 328.
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| title = Text of the Secret Additional Protocol to the German-Japanese Agreement [25 Nov 1936]
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}}In addition to the main treaty and the public additional protocol ("Protocol Supplement"), there was also another additional protocol on 25 November 1936/Shōwa 11, this one kept in strict secrecy from the public, which specifically dealt with the establishment of Germany's and Japan's military and diplomatic partnership against the Soviet Union. While the Soviet Union was alluded to with the public protocol's references to Comintern activity, the secret additional protocol is the only one where the USSR is actually mentioned by name. Just like the main agreement and the public additional protocol, the secret additional protocol was signed by Ribbentrop and Mushanokōji.<ref name="Presseisen-1958" />{{Rp|327–328}}<ref name="Weinberg-1954" />{{Rp|200}}

The latter protocol's secrecy was agreed upon in a separate document signed by both Ribbentrop and Mushanokōji, in which the two states created the option to inform third parties about the contents of the secret agreement with mutual consent. Ambassador Mushanokōji informed Japanese foreign minister [[Hachirō Arita]] of the successful conclusion of negotiations later on in the day.<ref name="Weinberg-1954" />{{Rp|200–201}}

The secret additional protocol reveals the true intention of the Anti-Comintern Pact. Rather than a vague ideological crackdown on the alleged overreach of communist activists, it was a specific defensive alliance direct particularly against the Soviet Union as a country.<ref name="Ferris-2015b">{{Cite book |title=Fighting the War |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2015 |isbn=9781107038929 |editor-last=Ferris |editor-first=John |series=The Cambridge History of the Second World War |volume=1 |location=Cambridge |editor-last2=Mawdsley |editor-first2=Evan}}</ref>{{Rp|52}}<ref name="Bosworth-2015" />{{Rp|22}}

Due to its covert nature, the secret additional protocol remained exclusive between Germany and Japan, whereas other countries joined only the two public clauses of the treaty. Starting with Italy, the other countries of the Anti-Comintern Pact did not sign the secret additional protocol.<ref name="Deist-1990" />{{Rp|641}}