ABSTRACT
During almost two decades of fragile peace between the two World Wars, the Central and Eastern European states maintained their independence but did not manage to form a confederation as a bulwark against the territorial ambitions of Russia and Germany. The Second World War served as an acid test for statehood in the region, since the plans for occupation and the occupying regimes were much more radical than they had been during the First World War. From the very beginning, neither the Nazis nor the Soviets would tolerate any form of continuation of statehood in the invaded territories. Between 1939 and 1941, as a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Germany and Russia were even accomplices in the dividing up of Central Europe. At this point, the fleeting appearances of the First World War-era governments in exile and various representatives of the emerging Central and Eastern European states, which orbited the Paris peace negotiations in 1918–19, reappeared on a larger, more professional and long-lasting stage.
