International: Anatomy of the Big Lie

In the Big Lie there is always a certain force of credibility. . . . In the primitive simplicity of their minds [the masse] more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie since they themselves . . . would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. . . .

—Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

In his remarkable London speech, Vyacheslav Molotov made a number of assertions. Many of them were of a more or less technical nature with which the average German, for instance, was not acquainted. They bore examination.

Molotov said:...