There is no doubt, that the russian women and men, who fought with heroism to overcome the nazi empire, where great heroes. Not only in Russia but in the whole world.
On the other hand I find it quite strange to find here in FREE REPUBLIC "heroic" propaganda pictures from Lenin and Stalin. It is true, that the Red Army made by far the biggest contribution of all nations to overthrow Hitler, but it is also true that Stalin was:
1. At first a pragmatic ally to Hitler in splitting and raping Poland and other countries in eastern Europe. Killing thousands of innocents (Katyn i.e.) etc. etc. etc.
2. A beast that held many innocent nations (Poland, Czechia etc.) in its grip as his price after the war.
3. A mass murderer who killed millions of innocent Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Poles and people from many other nations for his low base motives. Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, Pol Pot or Jack the Ripper are just harmless milksops compared to Stalin.
Stalin is for sure nobody any real Freeper ever wants to honor. We should all be happy that his foul stinking body is rotting in his grave at the Kremlin wall.
President Bush just found the right words about Stalins evil empire yesterday, when he was talking to the people of the Baltic nations, who are free now from Sowjet oppression.
Please do not use Stalins propaganda photos anymore. They spoil the remembrance of the real Russian heroes who fought in their time for the good thing.
Thank you on your statement about russian men and women. However, I disagree on the part of "propaganda photos". In any case, while Stalin's photos may be offending, I see no problem whatsoever with the photos of soldiers on the Red Square - they were heroes, all of them. As to the red banners and Stalin's and Lenin's pictures - well, these were the realities of those days. No sense in ignoring them.
As a WW2 vet I am pleased to see the faces of those military who served 'their country' and did much to destroy the evils of the Nazi regime.--many of us who served are gone and the perils of those days were kept from this generation by such men and women, regardless of country--forget about the nature of their government and just remember how much the people sacrificed--look at the faces and see the faces of sons and daughters so very much like our own--God Bless all who serve their country in times of great peril--there but for the Grace of God go any one of us and be thankful this Nation has been so blessed! (FREE REPUBLIC is just the spot to such moving pictures of history)
As a WW2 vet I am pleased to see the faces of those military who served 'their country' and did much to destroy the evils of the Nazi regime.--many of us who served are gone and the perils of those days were kept from this generation by such men and women, regardless of country--forget about the nature of their government and just remember how much the people sacrificed--look at the faces and see the faces of sons and daughters so very much like our own--God Bless all who serve their country in times of great peril--there but for the Grace of God go any one of us and be thankful this Nation has been so blessed! (FREE REPUBLIC is just the spot to such moving pictures of history)