On 19 August 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union conclude the German–Soviet Credit Agreement — the commercial understanding that reopens bilateral political contacts days before the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

Germany grants the USSR a merchandise credit of 200 million Reichsmarks (Golddiskontbank, Reich guarantee, effective interest ~4.5%) for Soviet orders of industrial plant, machine tools and, in smaller share, armaments-related supplies (optics, armour plate and the like).

The credit was to be liquidated by Soviet raw materials; as current business the USSR commits to immediate deliveries of ~180 million RM (timber, cotton, grain, phosphates, platinum, furs, petroleum, etc.), offset by German deliveries of ~120 million RM.

The German memorandum of 29 August 1939 (Avalon / Nazi–Soviet Relations) stresses that the agreement was the first decisive step toward reshaping political relations.

For 1939 economic diplomacy, 19 August marks the German–Soviet credit signature.

Official German documentation is published in the Avalon Project (Yale).

The German–Soviet Credit Agreement of 19 August 1939 remains the commercial milestone preceding the 23 August pact.

Image: Berlin/Moscow; Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: German–Soviet Credit Agreement (1939). Treaty text: Avalon Project — Credit Agreement memorandum.