#OTD in 1941 the Stalin - Hitler Alliance ended when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union

 "Fascism was the shadow or ugly child of communism… As Fascism sprang from Communism, so Nazism developed from Fascism. Thus were set on foot those kindred movements which were destined soon to plunge the world into more hideous strife, which none can say has ended with their destruction." - Winston Churchill, The Second World War, Volume 1, The Gathering Storm (1948)

Soviet and Nazi soldiers fraternize in Poland. Their alliance ended 80 years ago today

On August 23, 1939 the world was shocked to learn that Communist Russia and Nazi Germany had signed a non-aggression pact, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. It was named after their respective foreign ministers, Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop. Observers would have been even more horrified had they known of the secret protocols that divided Eastern Europe between the two totalitarian powers. What they called a "peace treaty" in reality was a war treaty.

On September 22, 1939 the German Nazi army joined with the Soviet Communist army in a military parade in Brest-Litovsk (Poland) and celebrated together.  

On March 5, 1940 Joseph Stalin ordered his secret police to execute 22,000 Polish army officers and civilians in 1940, and the order was carried out. 

Stalin deported hundreds of refugees to Nazi authorities. Most of them were German anti-fascists, communists, and Jews who were seeking asylum in the Soviet Union. 

Secret protocols of the Hitler-Stalin Pact not only partitioned Poland but also divided up Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland & Romania into Nazi and Soviet "spheres of influence."

This alliance ended on June 22, 1941 when Hitler double crossed Josef Stalin and launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.     

"Stalin was shocked; he had received a plethora of warnings of an imminent invasion – notably from Winston Churchill, informed by British intelligence briefings. The communist dictator had refused to believe them," reported Agence France Press. Stalin refused to listen to Churchill, and had relied on Hitler's assurances. 

It is important to recall that for the first 18 months of WW2 that the Soviet Union was allied with Nazi Germany.  Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov in a October 31, 1939  speech spoke candidly about this alliance, and ridiculed its victims.

"The ruling circles of Poland boasted quite a lot about the ‘stability’ of their state and the ‘might’ of their army. However, one swift blow to Poland, first by the German Army and then by the Red Army, and nothing was left of this ugly offspring of the Versailles Treaty which had existed by oppressing non-Polish nationalities." 

Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter's Top 5 Most-Read Articles in 2020

 2020 was the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2, but the anniversary was over shadowed by the worse global pandemic since the 1918 Spanish Flu. COVID-19 and examinations of what communist regimes in China, Cuba and elsewhere could be covering up dominated the top five most read articles with three entries. On a "lighter" note the documentary "Operation Odessa" came in second place.

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WW2 ended 75 years ago today: Let us not forget those responsible for this terrible chapter in history

We remember. History matters.

The Soviet Union allied with Nazi Germany in August 1939 signing a so-called "non-aggression pact" that had secret protocols that divided Central Europe, and partitioned Poland between the two totalitarian powers. Day later, beginning with Nazi, Germany and followed a few days later by the Soviet Union they invaded Poland and met in the middle to celebrate their victory together.

Eighty years ago on March 5, 1940, Josef Stalin and other high ranking Soviet Communists signed the orders to murder thousands of Polish officers and intellectuals that had resisted the Nazi invasion of Poland and between April and May of 1940 had them executed and buried in mass graves in the forest of Katyn.

Soviet and Nazi soldiers fraternize after conquering Poland in 1939

The Nazis and the Soviets remained allied until Sunday, June 22, 1941 when Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union. Prior to that they were sharing intelligence, logistics, and the Soviets were turning over Jewish refugees to be sent to the death camps.
 The end of  World War Two was a historic victory ending suffering for victims of the Nazi regime. But we must remember that for victims of the Soviet regime in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania the suffering continued for another 46 years under one of the aggressors that started this terrible war.

History matters and we must remember both how the war started and how it ended. We must also remember that although some Nazi war criminals were brought to justice at Nuremberg none of the Soviet war criminals ever were.

The Soviet Union should not be given a pass for their role in this terrible chapter in history.
 

Remembering WW2 in historical context

We remember.

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the start of World War Two. Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and on September 17th their Soviet allies invaded from the East. This was agreed to in the secret protocols of the August 23, 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. (Also known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact).

Very early in the morning, on this day 80 years ago, Hitler’s attack against Poland started. Stalin had given Hitler green light for the attack, but UK and France declared war in response. WW2 started. pic.twitter.com/f49QwZGorM

— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) September 1, 2019

World War One was supposed to be the “war to end all wars,” but instead it turned out to be the protracted suicide of the West over four years and three months. Nazi Germany and Communist Russia emerged out of the ashes of the 1914-1918 conflict and together plunged the world into another, longer and more costly total war 80 years ago today.

Images from Poland in September 1939 at the start of World War Two

This six year conflict began on September 1, 1939 and ended six years and one day later on September 2, 1945.  An estimated 15 million soldiers died on the battlefield, and 45 million civilians were killed in the conflict.

Whereas WWI empowered the toxic ideologies of Communism and Nazism, the Second World War gave rise to nuclear weapons, the unique evil of the Holocaust, and the possibility of human engineered planetary extinction.

1939: On 1 Sept, Germany attacked Poland. The German battleship Schleswig-Holstein shelling a 🇵🇱 base on the Westerplatte peninsula fired the opening shots of WWII.

On 17 Sept, Red Army invaded 🇵🇱, as set out in the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.#80WW2 pic.twitter.com/UshLm1iQ0F

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) September 1, 2019