Discussion Why are communist crimes during World War II whitewashed and ignored?

[Pessimist]

Atrocities committed by the far-left extremists and communists of the Soviet Union are whitewashed, ignored or forgotten. Some leftists go one step further and claim that the Soviet Union were the heroes of World War II for fighting the Nazis. For some reason all of their crimes in World War II are ignored: in 1940 there's the NKVD-committed Katyn massacre of tens of thousands of Poles. Next year, there's the NKVD-committed massacre of 100,000 political prisoners. And their communist brutality doesn't begin or end there. The Red Army is known for being an an army of mass rapists.

Spoiler: NSFW

- Katyn massacre

Spoiler: NSFW

- NKVD prisoner massacres

 

[EternalShore]

There's a very probable reason, but I like being well-liked~ :)

A more appropriate answer is that the Nazis' and Japanese's crimes are viewed as far worse while the commies' can be more easily viewed as retaliation~ altho, it is VERY interesting how internment camps (which killed far fewer than the Soviets did) are known about as well as anti-Central Powers propaganda from the 1st World War yet not these crimes that you mention nor Allied crimes in WW1 either~

 

[Agon321]

I am Polish and this is one of the funniest things for me.
Communism is no better than fascism.
If you are against fascism, then to be consistent, you also have to be against communism.

The USSR together with the Third Reich attacked Poland.
Germany on September 1, the USSR on September 17.
I have the impression that they don't teach this in Western schools, because for me it is a complete abstraction to romanticize the USSR in the West.

Additionally, mass deportations of people to labor camps
Censorship and killing of political opponents.
Persecution.
Stopping the development of Eastern European countries (after the war, Eastern Europe was under the thumb of the USSR)...etc.
The USSR is a plague that is no better than the Third Reich.

I'm sorry, but I can't take seriously a person who trivializes the actions of the USSR.
The same way I can't take communists seriously in general. This system doesn't work.
I prefer the disabled capitalism and corporatism we have now to the even worse communism.

 

[Pluto]

 

[KillingPain267]

Atrocities committed by the far-left extremists and communists of the Soviet Union are whitewashed, ignored or forgotten. Some leftists go one step further and claim that the Soviet Union were the heroes of World War II for fighting the Nazis. For some reason all of their crimes in World War II are ignored: in 1940 there's the NKVD-committed Katyn massacre of tens of thousands of Poles. Next year, there's the NKVD-committed massacre of 100,000 political prisoners. And their communist brutality doesn't begin or end there. The Red Army is known for being an an army of mass rapists.

Spoiler: NSFW

View attachment 147081

- Katyn massacre

Spoiler: NSFW

View attachment 147082

- NKVD prisoner massacres

Same reason for why America and the West's crimes are ignored. Hundreds of millions of Native Americans, invasions of nations in just the last century and this one. Famine in India, invasion of Vietnam, invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, funding of Israel, etc. All whitewashed. Communist government crimes are also exaggerated by the west, but I am not surprised there was a lot. Afterall, I think anyone with a gun saying "I'm the good guy, now do as I say" always ends up in atrocities. I'm a leftist but anarcho-pacifist and thus take no sides. Police and militry are all the same to me, no matter what color they wear.

 

[emma99]

History is Written by the Victors

 

[brokeandbroken]

Atrocities committed by the far-left extremists and communists of the Soviet Union are whitewashed, ignored or forgotten. Some leftists go one step further and claim that the Soviet Union were the heroes of World War II for fighting the Nazis. For some reason all of their crimes in World War II are ignored: in 1940 there's the NKVD-committed Katyn massacre of tens of thousands of Poles. Next year, there's the NKVD-committed massacre of 100,000 political prisoners. And their communist brutality doesn't begin or end there. The Red Army is known for being an an army of mass rapists.

Spoiler: NSFW

View attachment 147081

- Katyn massacre

Spoiler: NSFW

View attachment 147082

- NKVD prisoner massacres

One of the biggest reasons is inability to enforce anything. They had the Nazis already "prisoner" and could put them on trial. There was no way to put Stalin on trial. And you had a series of proxy wars to stop his influence. Even China which arguably is worse then the Nazis gets a pass today.

 

[Grav]

The US government had many people sympathetic to Stalin's USSR and it would be ugly to explain how, after fighting a world war, now to say "oh yeah, our good ally is also as bad". While pragmatic it leaves these kind of questions out there. I don't think the full extent of Stalin's rule was known in the West and if it was there were many who would like to ignore it, although some tried to warn us. The Nazis also made it easier to see by stating what they wanted and doing just that, Stalin had his show trials, wreckers, etc to dress up his crimes. Not many years before WWII you have the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and those who fought against Franco also helped build the affinity for Stalin's ideology.

 

[Pessimist]

Same reason for why America and the West's crimes are ignored. Hundreds of millions of Native Americans, invasions of nations in just the last century and this one. Famine in India, invasion of Vietnam, invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, funding of Israel, etc. All whitewashed. Communist government crimes are also exaggerated by the west, but I am not surprised there was a lot. Afterall, I think anyone with a gun saying "I'm the good guy, now do as I say" always ends up in atrocities. I'm a leftist but anarcho-pacifist and thus take no sides. Police and militry are all the same to me, no matter what color they wear.

American war crimes are not ignored at all. They are actually exaggerated by many, leading to phrases like the "Great Satan" and "Death to America". People really want to talk about Abu Ghraib but not about the millions killed in the communist Gulag. Also, the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans isn't really a "genocide", and the death toll isn't this high. Some actual genocides, such as the Cambodian genocide and the Holodomor (millions of victims each), were perpetrated by far-left communist regimes.

 

[Imagined_Euphoria]

Because unlike nazism, communist parties are still allowed today and in many countries are very left-leaning and at least on the outside look like they stand up for the workers and social justice.

 

[FlufflesAway]

Ah jeez, I thought political change was just going to be rainbows and sunshine uwu

 

[Gustav Hartmann]

Because they lost the war, vae victis!

 

[GoneFromRevolution]

There's a very probable reason, but I like being well-liked~ :)

A more appropriate answer is that the Nazis' and Japanese's crimes are viewed as far worse while the commies' can be more easily viewed as retaliation~ altho, it is VERY interesting how internment camps (which killed far fewer than the Soviets did) are known about as well as anti-Central Powers propaganda from the 1st World War yet not these crimes that you mention nor Allied crimes in WW1 either~

Very casual downplay of Nazi war crimes in this comment...

 

[EternalShore]

Very casual downplay of Nazi war crimes in this comment...

I condemn the Holocaust. Now, pls go away and don't try to harm my reputation anymore~

 

[Aloneandinpain]

Great discussion, but this issue is far from limited to the war or even the Soviet Union.

One of the worst atrocities in human history was the holodomor.

People make false accusations of mass starvation in other instances by other countries which were sometimes simply failures to provide sufficient food during natural disasters. The Holodomor was an example of intentionally sealing off the most fertile land in the Soviet Union and taking away all the food. They then took away all the seeds and tools too.

Communism has murdered at least 100 million people, the only thing more murderous overall is Islam, but that has been around much longer, so probably the same or even slightly lower death toll per annum.

 

[UnluckyBastard]

Because the people in charge of our history, arts, culture, etc are communist sympathizers. Only Nazis and white people can do wrong, according to them. It's a disgusting anti white double standard that's completely historically inaccurate and dangerously perversive. Anyone is capable of evil, regardless of race, religion, etc, and I'm tired of trying to apply common sense to these ideological terrorists.

Very casual downplay of Nazi war crimes in this comment...

This is the shit I'm talking about. No one is downplaying anything. Get your head out of your fucking ass for ducks sake

I am Polish and this is one of the funniest things for me.
Communism is no better than fascism.
If you are against fascism, then to be consistent, you also have to be against communism.

The USSR together with the Third Reich attacked Poland.
Germany on September 1, the USSR on September 17.
I have the impression that they don't teach this in Western schools, because for me it is a complete abstraction to romanticize the USSR in the West.

Additionally, mass deportations of people to labor camps
Censorship and killing of political opponents.
Persecution.
Stopping the development of Eastern European countries (after the war, Eastern Europe was under the thumb of the USSR)...etc.
The USSR is a plague that is no better than the Third Reich.

I'm sorry, but I can't take seriously a person who trivializes the actions of the USSR.
The same way I can't take communists seriously in general. This system doesn't work.
I prefer the disabled capitalism and corporatism we have now to the even worse communism.

I'm so sorry you had to deal with commies and Nazis. Fuck em both. Poland strong