• Anarcho-Bolshevik
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    2 years ago

    Operation Barbarossa generally isn’t one of anticommunists’ favorite subjects (they seem to consider the German–Soviet Pact of ’39 a thousand times more important), but when they do get around to discussing it their strategy is to exculpate the Axis invaders and their collaborators as much as possible while demonizing the Soviets and blaming them for everything. See the comment section here for a good example.

    As for the Soviet victory, that was a stroke of sheer luck: Axis victory would have been certain were it not for the U.S.’s crappy Lend–Lease program and the intense weather (an entirely ‘irrelevant’ factor in the context of Sino–Soviet famines, but not here!).

    two totalitarian regimes clashed in Europe

    Underneath this shallow surface it soon becomes clear that there is very little of substance other than (passive–aggressive) Axis apologetics, as you likely already know.

    Nevertheless, it does give me the idea to closely examine actual examples of fascist infighting (e.g. Austria 1938, Greece 1941) and compare them with how the German Reich mistreated the Soviets. Although you could argue that the death counts alone would answer that, at least in a ‘tl;dr’ sort of way.

    • PolandIsAStateOfMind
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      2 years ago

      It is estimated that at least 3.3 million Soviet POWs died in Nazi custody, out of 5.7 million. This figure represents a total of 57% of all Soviet POWs and it may be contrasted with 8,300 out of 231,000 British and U.S. prisoners, or 3.6%.

      This is even in wikipedia.