I think that everyone here needs to take a step back and look at WW2 a bit more objectively. Before proceeding further, a little background on me: I am Jewish, with half of my family from Poland and the other half from 2 different cities in Ukraine (though they always considered themselves Russians). Luckily for for them (and me), my great grandparents and grandparents left and came here either just before WW1, or in the early 1920s. However, they all had family that didn’t get out and, as anyone with even a modest knowledge of history could guess, much of that family was murdered (the Poles and some of the Russians, by the Nazis) or brutalized and effectively imprisoned in a giant open-air prison for 3 generations (the Russians - and Stalin’s goons in the NKVD actually murdered my grandfather’s father in 1937). So not only has my family history compelled me to study that region of the world and the events surrounding WW1, WW2, the Russian Revolution and the Holocaust, but I am here to tell you that I have not one shred of sympathy for the Nazis, the Communists, anti-Semites from any country in that area or anyone who sympathizes with or apologizes for any of them - quite to the contrary, I have a white- hot burning hatred for them all.
HOWEVER, there is a critical role for objective truth. Anyone can be emotional or partisan (myself included), but to figure out how things actually are and to have a shot at finding a solution to problems, one must step back from personal feelings and look at just the facts.
WRT the issue at hand, blame for the start of WW2, there’s plenty to go around - PLENTY. The Western powers didn’t stop Hitler early on, when they could have easily done so - even up to 1938 this was true. Their constant appeasement only fed his appetite and his feeling that no one had the guts to stop him. The USSR wasn’t blameless, either. In the 1930s, well before the August, 1939 Pact, the Germans were testing tanks and aircraft there in violation of the Versailles Treaty. Of course, from the time the Pact was signed until June 22, 1941, the USSR provided Germany with immense amounts of critical materials, fuel and food. Thus, there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Now let’s get to what Putin was talking about - and try to be objective about it. After all, in every disagreement there are 2 sides…and then there’s the truth, usually (like 99% of the time) somewhere in between. Let’s also postulate that even an implacable enemy has a point of view that colors his words and actions - and while you can (and obviously do) disagree, you need to understand that POV if you are to deal intelligently with him.
Putin is reacting to a longstanding habit of the West to simply blame the USSR for everything, or to almost completely denigrate any Soviet contribution to defeating Hitler. Being as objective as possible, some of that criticism is valid, but the simple fact is that if Hitler had not invaded the USSR and it just watched events, then 3 million men, thousands of tanks and aircraft and immense resources would have been used against the West. As it is, they were turned on the USSR, and in defeating the Germans in the East, they inflicted about 80% of the casualties that the Germans suffered during the war. This cost the USSR something like 26 million dead and immense material destruction, the likes of which we can hardly imagine. They list more dead in the siege of Leningrad than the US did in the entire war from combat and disease - so one can understand why they are a bit touchy when uninformed idiots on our side denigrate their role in Germany’s defeat.
Now, OTOH, the Soviets/Russians/Putin have held (or at least put forth) the view that the West did almost nothing in comparison to the USSR. This is quite obviously false, and is clearly a crude reaction to the Western denigration of the Soviet contribution. First, we sent substantial aid to them via several routes, at high cost to many of our convoys; an argument can be made that this aid allowed Stalin to divert sufficient resources to stop the German offensive in 1942, and to set the stage for the Stalingrad victory (though no Soviet or Russian officials would or will ever admit so in public). We (the US and UK) forced the Germans to expend substantial men and materiel on battles in North Africa, Italy, throughout the Mediterranean and, ultimately when a 2nd front was created on D Day. Even before the invasion, enormous resources were expended to create fortifications, and dozens of divisions were unavailable for fighting in the East. Our campaign against the U-Boats and our bombing campaign against them together caused millions of casualties and set back German war production considerably, plus diverted close to a million men and large amounts of planes, guns and AA ammunition away from the Soviets. The entirety of resources used to research the V1 and V2 programs were also unavailable to use in development or production of weapons against the USSR..
In short, both the West and the Russians have been playing a game of whose d!@k is bigger WRT this issue - and it is not only childish, but both sides are wrong.
Now, all of you may despise Putin, probably more since he invaded Ukraine - and that’s perfectly fine and natural, and he earned that. For my part, I previously admired his strong advocacy for his nation (that’s what leaders SHOULD do), even while knowing that his methods were quite brutal (which, though it is typical for a Russian or Soviet leader, isn’t acceptable). But especially since the invasion, I also despise him. I see many towns and cities where my family lived (and, in the case of very distant cousins, probably still do), and I see him destroying them, destroying part of my past. I feel great sorrow and sympathy for not just my distant relatives, but for all Ukrainians who are going through this. None of this was necessary, and while the West pushed Russia into a corner by aggressively expanding NATO to the East despite agreements not to do so, Putin gave the orders to start this war. He could have done much more to help his nation and its neighbors, but he chose this path. But despite what we think of Putin as a person or as a leader, his statements in the context of the subject at hand are not entirely wrong. Bad people aren’t always wrong, just as good people aren’t always right - and in the case of who or what countries are responsible for WW2, there are lots of objective facts that at least partially back him up.
Imagine it’s September 1939, here on FR. What would the discussions been like. A couple of things. A lot of conservatives of the time were driven by a white hot hatred of FDR. Also many despised Britain as well. And many thought that while Hitler was a bad guy, he was just trying to rectify the evils of the Versailles Treaty. And some would have blamed Poland, and point out Poland’s history of antisemitism, and her stubbornness to give up Danzig. Also Poland threatened Germany when she allied with Britain and France. And you certainly would have had some echoing the sentiments of Lindbergh about Jewish influence.
The parallels between then and now are striking.
Very well written!