Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 22 May 1939
- The Pact of Steel was signed in the “Reichskanzlei” in Berlin (New Reich Chancellery). Its construction allegedly cost about 90 million Reichsmarks (more than a billion dollars).
The Germans called the pact “Der Stahlpakt”, and the Italians “Patto d’Acciaio”.
The states were committed to help each other during war. Only three months and one week later, World War II began, when Hitler invaded Poland. Mussolini’s Italy did not have enough time to do prepare for the war.
Third’s Reich Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop (German: Reichsminister des Auswärtigen), Italy’s Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano (Italian: Ministro degli affari esters). Also present were Hermann Göring and Adolf Hitler, who didn’t sign the pact because the mentioned minister signed it.
The signing ceremony was held in the “Reichskanzlei” in Berlin (New Reich Chancellery), around the corner on Voßstraße. There was a beautiful gallery (length of 146 meters, i.e. two times longer than the famous Hall of Mirrors at Versailles). The construction of the chancellery allegedly cost about 90 million Reichsmarks (more than a billion dollars).
