

Monsters Together: When Stalin and Hitler Were Allies - lermontov
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/apr/23/hitler-stalin-monsters-together/

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iammyIP
That is not a good title. I don't like them being called 'Monsters', since
this totally misses the point and prevents any useful further insights. Both
Hitler and Stalin were HUMANS, like all (most) of us. They were once young
kids, had dreams, hopes, feelings not too unsimilar to everyone else. What has
become of them is not a 'Monster', it's a result of deeply buried interactions
between the human condition and our environment. And even if not, and they
both have been sent by some satanic deity, they still should be called humans
- not monsters, because that only helps writing the whole historic event off
as a distant fairytale where you might aswell add some dragons to sauce it up
even further into fantasyland.

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vetinari
Here it comes, demonizing Russians at the price of rewriting history.

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was similar to pacts that every other European country
had - including Poland[1]. Except that Poland had it since 1934 and USSR only
since 1939. Stalin made it after realizing that Britain and France were
playing him from April to August 1939 [2].

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Polish_Non-
Aggre...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Polish_Non-
Aggression_Pact)

[2] [http://spartacus-educational.com/RUSnazipact.htm](http://spartacus-
educational.com/RUSnazipact.htm)

~~~
acqq
Also:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement)

"The agreement was signed by Germany, _France, the United Kingdom,_ and
Italy."

and:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripartite_Pact](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripartite_Pact)

Initially: "Germany, Italy and Japan"

then:

"Hungary (20 November 1940), Romania (23 November 1940), Bulgaria (1 March
1941) and Yugoslavia (25 March 1941), as well as by the German client state of
Slovakia (24 November 1940). Yugoslavia's adherence provoked a coup d'état in
Belgrade, and Italy and Germany responded by invading Yugoslavia"

Note that some countries first signed and only then the Nazi regimes came to
power in them. Hard time in Europe then.

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sly_g
Stalin was a Hitler's ally no more than a person, yielding to a ransom demand
from a kidnapper. His one and main purpose was to delay Germany attack on
USSR, to prepare for war as good as it was possible. Anything else would be a
suicide.

It's just a part of massive denigration campaign.

~~~
maxharris
_It 's just a part of massive denigration campaign._

Stalin _was_ a mass murderer:

"The exact number of deaths caused by Stalin's regime is a subject of debate,
but it is widely agreed upon that it is on the order of millions."

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin)

