If you visit Eastern Europe, you’ll find a lot of museums which reflect on the double disaster of Nazi occupation for years followed by Communist occupation for decades.
For now. If the trend continues across the globe those museums will be treated the way the US has been treating it’s “never forget” monuments, holidays and classroom curriculums.
Those Eastern European countries faced the ultimate rock-and-a-hard-place situation; side with the Nazis, side with Stalin, or get crushed by both (and whichever one you “sided” with wouldn’t treat you particularly well either). And they had to pick sides without knowing what the judgment of history would be.
Honestly, a rare situation where some Nazi collaborators deserve an “it was complicated” footnote, IMO. Though that’s a bit much to ask for on a stone monument like this.
And they had to pick sides without knowing what the judgment of history would be.
Emphasis added. They were making the choice without the benefit of that Wikipedia page from 2025 to refer to.
And Stalin was right up there with Hitler in terms of total kill-count, which is why it was a rock-and-a-hard-place situation. There was no good option available.
When one option is live under a brutal dictator and the other option is have your ethnicity wiped off the face of the Earth, there isn’t really an option, is there? The German attempt to eliminate the Slavs was not theoretical. They were massacring people in territories they occupied throughout the war. Even the vast majority of Ukrainians, who had more reason than most to hate the USSR, still picked up arms for them against the Nazis because the Nazis were just that bad.
And Stalin was right up there with Hitler in terms of total kill-count, BTW.
Basically every death in the European Theatre of WW2 can be directly blamed on Hitler and the Nazis for starting the whole thing so I have trouble believing this. I don’t know if you heard but that was a lot of people.
When one option is live under a brutal dictator and the other option is have your ethnicity wiped off the face of the Earth, there isn’t really an option, is there?
You’re still missing the point. The people living there, at that time, didn’t know what those options would ultimately lead to. They didn’t have the benefit of hindsight. And even if they did, they were right there at that moment in time, having to make decisions that would determine if they survived one more day.
Basically every death in the European Theatre of WW2 can be directly blamed on Hitler and the Nazis for starting the whole thing
Poor Stalin, I guess he had absolutely no choice in all the massacring that he did. Hitler made him do it.
If you visit Eastern Europe, you’ll find a lot of museums which reflect on the double disaster of Nazi occupation for years followed by Communist occupation for decades.
For now. If the trend continues across the globe those museums will be treated the way the US has been treating it’s “never forget” monuments, holidays and classroom curriculums.
Those Eastern European countries faced the ultimate rock-and-a-hard-place situation; side with the Nazis, side with Stalin, or get crushed by both (and whichever one you “sided” with wouldn’t treat you particularly well either). And they had to pick sides without knowing what the judgment of history would be.
Honestly, a rare situation where some Nazi collaborators deserve an “it was complicated” footnote, IMO. Though that’s a bit much to ask for on a stone monument like this.
It was really not that hard a choice. People seem to forget the Nazis murdered millions of Slavs.
Re-quoting from my comment:
Emphasis added. They were making the choice without the benefit of that Wikipedia page from 2025 to refer to.
And Stalin was right up there with Hitler in terms of total kill-count, which is why it was a rock-and-a-hard-place situation. There was no good option available.
When one option is live under a brutal dictator and the other option is have your ethnicity wiped off the face of the Earth, there isn’t really an option, is there? The German attempt to eliminate the Slavs was not theoretical. They were massacring people in territories they occupied throughout the war. Even the vast majority of Ukrainians, who had more reason than most to hate the USSR, still picked up arms for them against the Nazis because the Nazis were just that bad.
Basically every death in the European Theatre of WW2 can be directly blamed on Hitler and the Nazis for starting the whole thing so I have trouble believing this. I don’t know if you heard but that was a lot of people.
You’re still missing the point. The people living there, at that time, didn’t know what those options would ultimately lead to. They didn’t have the benefit of hindsight. And even if they did, they were right there at that moment in time, having to make decisions that would determine if they survived one more day.
Poor Stalin, I guess he had absolutely no choice in all the massacring that he did. Hitler made him do it.