The eminent historian makes a large-scale and astonishingly detailed writing of two regimes that have left a dark mark on human history.
Lawrence Rees compares the two most feared tyrants of the twentieth century in “Hitler and Stalin” / What do Hitler and Stalin have in common with their totalitarian ideologies?
For a short time, allies at the beginning of World War II, from the summer of 1941 to the late spring of 1945, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin found themselves clinging to the largest opposition the world had ever seen. Tens of millions of innocents have been sacrificed in the name of their totalitarian ideologies in this clash.
But to what extent did the two leaders shape the time in which they lived, and to what extent did that time shape them?
In his large-scale study, Hitler and Stalin: Tyrants and World War II, the respected British historian Lawrence Rees examines the main similarities and differences between leaders and their regimes through the prism of World War II events.
Based on nearly 30 years of research by the author of “Secrets of World War II”, “The Holocaust”, “Hitler’s Ominous Charisma”, etc., this book traces in detail the period 1939-1945 – the years in which Hitler and Stalin had a direct contact: first as allies and then not only as adversaries but also as leaders of two of the most powerful armies in history.
Reese builds a compelling portrait of evil, in which human suffering is used as a political tool and as a means of consolidating power.
“Hitler and Stalin: The Tyrants and the Second World War” is a large-scale and astonishingly detailed description of two regimes devoid of moral core and doomed to self-destruction, as well as top personalities chained in their absolute power over the lives and deaths of millions.
This fascinating parallel biography of Hitler and Stalin in the years of World War II reveals two beasts clinging to a battle of life and death. Lawrence Reese shows that Hitler and Stalin are largely different faces of the same totalitarian evil – a lesson that modernity must remember.
From “Hitler and Stalin” by Lawrence Rees *
6.
THE INVASION
When he entered Soviet territory on Sunday morning, June 22, Albert Schneider saw a strange sight: “Prisoners of war were walking against us, in trousers and nightgowns, maybe 5% of them were wearing uniforms and they were only half dressed. surprised …. they were taken out of bed “.
There can hardly be a better description of the inadequacy of the Soviet reaction than this revelation that the Red Army was caught – literally – in its underwear. Schneider, who served in a German assault unit, entered Soviet territory just hours after the first attack. And the sight of Red Army soldiers surrendering in underwear strengthens his belief that the war will be won quickly and “we will all return home in a year at most.” The Soviet leadership received confirmation of the invasion shortly after four o’clock in the morning, when the German ambassador, Count Schulenburg, arrived in the Kremlin. He told Molotov that the Germans had entered Soviet territory because units of the Red Army were concentrated so close to the border that they posed a threat. The Nazis used to use false pretexts to justify their aggression, but this is now such an outright lie that they no longer seem to be trying to come up with anything plausible. Molotov, who, according to one of the Germans accompanying Schulenburg, “apparently struggled with deep internal unrest,” replied that Germany had invaded his country for no reason, and added weeping, “We did not deserve this.”
After learning of the first German invasion across the Soviet border, around 3.30 in the morning, Tymoshenko and Zhukov demanded that Stalin be awakened in his dacha. After getting out of bed, the Soviet dictator immediately went to the Kremlin and met there with a small group of advisers, including Beria and Zhukov. Stalin still desperately believed that this was not a real invasion. Before receiving confirmation from Schulenburg that this was a war, he suggested that it might be a “provocation” by senior Wehrmacht officials. Maybe it was done behind Hitler’s back.
In the last few weeks, Stalin has been drinking more than usual, and Zhukov said he was depressed this morning. This is understandable. The Soviet leader sees his entire strategy fall apart before his eyes. Since the signing of the Soviet-Nazi pact nearly two years earlier, it has been trying to stay out of the war between Germany and the Allies.
It is significant that it was not Stalin but Molotov who addressed the Soviet people on the day of the invasion. The Soviet foreign minister, as we have seen, is a man devoid of any charm. He looks tired and his speech is astonishingly dull. Molotov talks about how the Germans betrayed the Nazi-Soviet pact – which now has absolutely no meaning – and calls on the people to unite around the Bolshevik Party and the “great leader” Stalin. Ordinary Soviet citizens who hear Molotov’s speech cannot help but wonder – how does Stalin intend to react to the invasion? The question remained unanswered for almost two weeks.
