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“‘I will meet her,’ said a young Soviet man of his wife, ‘under the ground.’ He was right; he was shot after she was, and they were buried among the seven hundred thousand victims of Stalin’s Great Terror of 1937 and 1938.”
This quote captures the fatalism and resignation faced by victims of Stalin’s Great Terror. The anticipation of death (“I will meet her...under the ground”) and the subsequent fulfillment of this grim prophecy underscore the pervasive atmosphere of fear and inevitability that characterized the era.
“‘Only Tania is left.’ Adolf Hitler had betrayed Stalin, her city was under siege by the Germans, and her family were among the four million Soviet citizens the Germans starved to death.”
This brief statement from an 11-year-old girl during the Siege of Leningrad conveys the solitude and desperation engendered by war. The simplicity of the phrase “Only Tania is left” belies the unimaginable horror and loss experienced by one so young, serving as a microcosm for the broader human cost of the Nazi-Soviet conflict.
“The war broke the old land empires of Europe, while inspiring dreams of new ones.”
This quote sets the stage for understanding the transformative impact of World War I as a catalyst for the rise of Hitler and Stalin. It succinctly captures the dual nature of the war’s aftermath: the destruction of established empires and the concurrent birth of ambitious visions for new political orders.
“For both Hitler and Stalin, Ukraine was more than a source of food. It was the place that would enable them to break the rules of traditional economics, rescue their countries from poverty and isolation, and remake the continent in their own image.”
This quote captures the crucial role Ukraine played in the geopolitical and ideological strategies of both Hitler and Stalin, emphasizing its significance beyond mere agricultural wealth. It reveals Ukraine as a key to unlocking their broader ambitions for self-sufficiency and dominance, illustrating how the region’s fate was inextricably linked to the totalitarian projects of both leaders.
“Father Stalin, look at this / Collective farming is just bliss […] And in the hut death and famine.”
This ironic children’s song serves as an indictment of Stalin’s policies from the perspective of the most innocent and vulnerable. The contrast between the propagandized utopia of collective farming and the reality of death and famine reflects the disparity between Soviet rhetoric and the catastrophic outcomes of its agrarian policies.
“Stalin shifted to a position of pure malice, where the Ukrainian peasant was somehow the aggressor and he, Stalin, the victim. Hunger was a form of aggression […] against which starvation was the only defense.”
This quote illustrates Stalin’s twisted logic to justify the famine and the mass suffering in Ukraine. By framing the starving peasants as aggressors in a perverse inversion of victim and perpetrator, Stalin absolves his regime of responsibility for the famine while simultaneously criminalizing the very act of survival among the peasantry.
“The kulak operation involved shooting from the beginning to the end: Yezhov reported to Stalin, with evident pride, that 352,454 people had been shot by 7 September 1937.”
This quote presents the brutality and scale of the purges under Stalin, focusing on the kulak operation as a symbol of the regime’s ruthlessness. The specificity of the numbers and the mention of Yezhov’s pride in reporting them to Stalin reveal the bureaucratic and detached approach to mass murder.
“People belonging to national minorities ‘should be forced to their knees and shot like mad dogs.’ It was not an SS officer speaking but a communist party leader: in the spirit of the national operations of Stalin’s Great Terror.”
This quote illustrates the ruthless mindset that underpinned Stalin’s national operations. The comparison to an SS officer’s expected brutality highlights the shocking extent of violence endorsed by the Soviet regime against its own citizens. The juxtaposition serves as a chilling reminder that state-sponsored terror and ethnic persecution were not exclusive to fascist regimes but were also a fundamental aspect of Stalin’s totalitarian control.
“This was a historically inspired invention. There was no Polish Military Organization during the 1930s, in Soviet Ukraine or anywhere else.”
This quote underscores the deliberate fabrication of threats by Stalin’s regime to justify the persecution of national minorities. The invention of a nonexistent enemy, in this case, the “Polish Military Organization,” exemplifies the manipulation of fear and nationalism to mobilize support for repressive actions. It reveals a cynical use of propaganda to create an omnipresent but invisible enemy, facilitating widespread paranoia and the acceptance of extreme measures.
“The German terror began in the sky. At 4:20 in the morning on 1 September 1939: the bombs fell: without warning: on the central Polish city of Wielun.”
This quote opens the chapter with a plain depiction of the sudden and brutal onset of WWII as experienced by Poland, emphasizing the indiscriminate nature of the bombing that targeted civilians. The specific time and date anchor the historical moment, while the choice of Wielun, a city “bereft of military significance,” underscores the terror tactics aimed not at military objectives but at the civilian population’s morale.
“The Soviets claimed that their intervention was necessary because the Polish state had ceased to exist. Since Poland could no longer protect its own citizens, went the argument, the Red Army had to enter the country on a peacekeeping mission.”
This quote demonstrates the use of political rhetoric to justify military aggression and territorial annexation. It’s an example of Orwellian doublespeak, where the invasion is framed as a humanitarian “peacekeeping mission” rather than an act of expansionist aggression.
“Hitler and Stalin both accepted a late-nineteenth century Darwinistic modification: progress was possible, but only as a result of violent struggle between races or classes.”
This statement critically examines the ideological footings shared by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, despite their opposing ideologies. It reveals how both regimes justified their actions through a distorted interpretation of Darwinism, where violence and elimination of perceived “inferior” groups were seen as natural and necessary for progress.
“In fact, the decision to kill the Jews contradicted that vision, since it was an implicit acceptance that the Germans would never control the vast territories that they would have needed for a Final Solution by deportation.”
This analysis highlights the tragic irony and the fatalistic turn in Nazi policy. The shift from the concept of deportation to outright extermination reveals a tacit acknowledgment of defeat, contrary to the public facade of confidence and superiority. It marks a pivotal moment in the Holocaust, where ideological extremism culminates in a horrific pragmatism. The quote exemplifies how the Nazis’ utopian and expansionist visions crumbled under the weight of their military failures, leading to one of the darkest chapters in human history.
“In Minsk in autumn 1941, the Germans were celebrating an imaginary triumph, even as Moscow held fast. On 7 November, the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, the Germans organized something more dramatic than mere mass shootings. On that morning, they rounded up thousands of Jews from the ghetto.”
This quote illustrates the cruelty and perverse nature of the Nazi regime’s actions in Minsk, turning a day of historical significance into a spectacle of horror. The juxtaposition of celebrating an “imaginary triumph” while engaging in the mass roundup and eventual murder of thousands underscores the regime’s use of propaganda and psychological warfare.
“Terror itself was nothing new […] Yet even at the height of Stalin’s Great Terror of those years, the NKVD was always discreet, taking people by ones and twos in the dark of night. The Germans were carrying out a mass action in the middle of the day, made for public consumption, ripe with meaning, suitable for a propaganda film.”
This comparison between Stalin’s Great Terror and the Nazi mass actions in Belarus offers insight into the evolution of terror tactics and their use as instruments of state policy. The quote underscores a transition from the secretive, night-time abductions of the NKVD to the blatant, daylight mass murders and parades by the Nazis, intended for widespread observation and as a tool of terror.
“Belzec was to be a new model, more efficient and more durable than Chelmno. Most likely in consultation with Wirth, Globocnik decided to build a permanent facility where many people could be gassed at once behind walls... but one where carbon monoxide gas could be reliably generated from internal combustion engines.”
This quote chillingly illustrates the evolution of Nazi extermination methods, highlighting a shift towards industrial-scale efficiency in the machinery of death. The reference to Belzec as a “new model” emphasizes the Nazis’ cold, calculated approach to mass murder, treating it as a problem of logistics and efficiency rather than a moral horror. This mechanistic view of genocide, where human lives are reduced to a technical challenge to be optimized, underscores the profound dehumanization at the heart of the Holocaust.
“In the trains, illusions faded. Although assured that their destination was a labor camp ‘in the east,’ some Jews must have suspected that this was false […] The very youngest had never seen fields or forests before. Nor would they again.”
This quote captures the tragic journey of Jews to the death camps, marked by a transition from hope or illusion to the grim reality of their fate. The phrase “illusions faded” serves as a turning point, moving from the deceptive promises made by the Nazis to the dawning realization among the Jews of their impending doom.
“The entire process, from disembarkation of Jews to the disposal of their bodies, took no more than two hours.”
This quote highlights the efficiency and ruthlessness of the extermination process at death camps like Treblinka. The brevity of “no more than two hours” underscores the horrifying speed with which lives were extinguished, emphasizing the industrial scale and mechanized nature of the genocide.
“The simple existence of Jewish subhumans was essentially criminal to the SS, and their resistance was an infuriating act that justified any response.”
This quote probes the ideological underpinnings of the Nazi regime’s brutal policies and actions. It reveals the dehumanizing perspective that labeled entire groups of people as “subhuman,” justifying extreme measures of violence and genocide against them.
“The Red Army’s halt at the Vistula doomed not only the Polish fighters and the civilians of Warsaw but also the Jews of Lödż.”
This statement sheds light on the broader consequences of military strategies and decisions, highlighting the tragic outcomes for multiple groups caught in the crossfire of geopolitical maneuvering. The Red Army’s inaction at a critical juncture not only sealed the fate of the Warsaw Uprising but also contributed to the continued persecution and extermination of Jews.
“The entire German nation was guilty: and not to be pitied.”
This quote reflects the harsh post-war sentiment towards the German population, encapsulating the collective punishment and broad generalizations that characterized the period. It employs stark, absolute language to convey a lack of empathy and a sweeping judgment, mirroring the brutal reality of the expulsions and the dehumanization of a whole people based on the actions of their government.
“The war had been fought in the name of the German race, but ended with unconcern for actual German civilians.”
This quote highlights the irony and tragedy of the war’s end for the German people. It juxtaposes the grandiose, ideological motivations for war with the grim reality faced by civilians in its aftermath. The literary device of contrast is used effectively here to critique the notion of war fought for abstract principles that abandon the very people it purported to elevate or protect.
“In January 1948, Stalin was killing a Jew. Solomon Mikhoels, the chairman of the Anti-Fascist Committee and the director of the Moscow Yiddish Theater, had been sent to Minsk to judge a play for the Stalin Prize.”
This quote encapsulates the brutal onset of Stalinist antisemitism with the state-sanctioned murder of Solomon Mikhoels, a prominent figure in Soviet Jewish culture and politics. Mikhoels’s assassination under the guise of an accident marks a pivotal moment in Stalin’s campaign against Jews, symbolizing the transition from covert suppression to overt violence and terror against Jewish individuals.
“It also seemed that the history of the Holocaust in the USSR would remain unwritten.”
This statement highlights the erasure and denial of Jewish suffering under both Nazi and Soviet rule. By suppressing the narrative of the Holocaust and the victimhood of Jews in the USSR, Stalinist policies sought to rewrite history to suit ideological ends, emphasizing the heroism and suffering of the Soviet people at large while minimizing or ignoring the unique atrocities experienced by Jewish populations.
“The boy who imagined he saw wheat in the fields was Jözef Sobolewski. He starved to death: along with his mother and of his brothers and sisters: in 1933 in a famished Ukraine.”
This quote humanizes the victims of mass atrocities by giving them names and stories, countering the dehumanization they experienced. By starting with individual stories—like that of Jözef Sobolewski—this narrative strategy emphasizes the personal tragedy within the vast scale of suffering. It highlights the use of literary devices such as metonymy, where a part (Jözef’s story) stands in for the whole (all victims of famine and terror), and synecdoche, where the individual experiences represent the collective horror experienced by millions.
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By Timothy Snyder