Josef Stalin

[ShiftingGears]

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr...ebook-20120406

Do Russians have some warped culture where they're willing to embrace a man as "great" who killed millions under his rule?

Or perhaps more generally, are there reasons why Stalin is not viewed as a total monster as Hitler is, besides the lack of Soviet records and the fact that the Soviets didn't start WW2?

[Gregor-y]

I thought Poland started World War 2 in 1920?

[EuroTroll]

I can't even begin to describe how warped the culture is, but then perhaps I shouldn't, as I'm Estonian and very biased.

[Mark]

Or perhaps more generally, are there reasons why Stalin is not viewed as a total monster as Hitler is, besides the lack of Soviet records and the fact that the Soviets didn't start WW2?

"History is written by the winners"

[schmenke]

Cue Eki and his Bush comments...

[EuroTroll]

Cue Eki and his Bush comments...

I'd guess Eki likes Stalin even less than Bush..

[Gregor-y]

It does make you wonder how bad things must be for some people in Russia today that they look back at Stalin's regime as a better time. There's usually a nostalgia for one's youth, though; no matter how bad things actually were at least you could still move all your joints.

[Rudy Tamasz]

There are two underlying cultural factors for Stalin's cult in Russia (and Belarus, to some extent). One is a pretty low value attached to the human life. Another is Russia's permanent want of "greatness". On the balance it means that if somebody expanded the borders of the country, he is regarded as a great, no matter how many human lives he screwed in the process.

[Eki]

In Russia, Stalin enjoying a revival on school notebooks - Los Angeles Times

Do Russians have some warped culture where they're willing to embrace a man as "great" who killed millions under his rule?

Or perhaps more generally, are there reasons why Stalin is not viewed as a total monster as Hitler is, besides the lack of Soviet records and the fact that the Soviets didn't start WW2?

If Hitler had won the World War 2, he now likely would have been voted for the greatest German ever. He lost, so he's now just a big pathetic loser in the eyes of the Germans.

[Rudy Tamasz]

If Hitler had won the World War 2, he now likely would have been voted for the greatest German ever. He lost, so he's now just a big pathetic loser in the eyes of the Germans.

No vote would have been held. The propaganda machine would have made him the greatest German ever by default.