The article builds on earlier works describing Polish–German film relations in the [1930s]. The authors of some of the more recent publications referred to the turn in [Fascist] eastern policy initiated by [Berlin], which was sealed by the signing of the Polish–German declaration of non‐aggression, also known as the German–Polish nonaggression pact, on 26 January 1934.
In doing so, these researchers emphasised that Berlin’s efforts to win Warsaw as a vassal ally, or junior partner of the Reich in the envisaged armed conflict with the Soviet Union, resonated in [Fascist] film production. As a result, anti‐Polish films were stopped from being screened and produced in Germany.
By contrast, films such as Abschiedswalzer (Chopin’s Last Waltz, dir. Géza von Bolváry, 1934) and Ritt in die Freiheit (Ritt Ride to Freedom, dir. Karl Hartl, 1937), which portrayed Poles in a positive light, were incorporated into the Third Reich’s anti‐Soviet propaganda.
Given the scarcity of works in English dealing with collaboration between German Fascists and Polish anticommunists, this article is quite valuable. I found this while trying to look for economic transactions between the Third Reich and pre‐1939 Poland, and while this does not precisely fit that, it is a good start.
See also: The Anti-Komintern and Nazi Anti-Bolshevik Propaganda in the 1930s (pgs. 578–9) and The Polish police force had a key role in the Nazi Final Solution.
Other events, not directly related to the naval question, gave cause for belief in the sincerity of [Berlin’s] moderation. The achievement of the German–Polish non‐aggression pact was one such. Phipps wrote in January 1934 that the conclusion of a pact between [the Third Reich] and the neighbour with whom [it] had the most issues left the way open for further disarmament discussion.
It offered hope that [the Third Reich] would be willing to seek treaty revision through negotiation, rather than unilaterally rejecting it. The pact, Phipps wrote, went some way toward removing the perception of Germany as the disturbing element in Europe.
(Source.)