Parade of the German and Soviet army in Brest in 1939/AFP
The events of the Second World War in Russia are so falsified and mythologized that it is often difficult to tell the truth from the fake. Especially when hiding the truth all this time, instead using myths all the time.
For more than seven decades, the Kremlin and its propagandists have been building a network of myths around the Second World War, carefully hiding the truth. So even the Second World War in Russian propaganda is called only “the great Patriotic war.” After all, what the Soviet Union and the Red Army were doing from 1939 until June 22, 1941 can hardly be called otherwise than cooperation with Nazi Germany. But for some reason in Russia they try not to talk about it, persecuting those who expose the truth.
Myth: Hitler is the most sworn enemy of the USSR
The leader of Nazi Germany is still considered enemy No. 1 in Russia. Although the Russians from time to time can put someone else in his place if the Kremlin needs it. But the comparison will still be with Hitler.
But for some reason, the Russians are silent about the fact that there were quite friendly relations between Stalin and Hitler. They kindly greeted each other in official telegrams. The Kremlin also had excellent relations with other top leadership of the Third Reich.
“The friendship between the peoples of Germany and the Soviet Union, which was sealed with blood, has every reason to be long and strong,” Stalin wrote to German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in response to his congratulations on his 60th birthday. This telegram was published on the pages of the main mouthpiece of the USSR in the Pravda newspaper on December 23, 1939. By that time, World War II was already underway. But obviously not for Russian propaganda, for which it began with the “treacherous attack of Nazi Germany” on June 22, 1941.
After all, it does not fit into the state myth that only with the support of the USSR Germany managed to start the Second World War. On August 23, 1939, the “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact” was signed, in a secret protocol to which both countries divided spheres of influence. And after the German attack on Poland, which led to World War II, Soviet troops also invaded its territory on September 17. And already on September 22, 1939, both countries held a general military parade in the city of Brest. The ceremony was attended by units of the motorized corps of the Wehrmacht under the command of Heinz Guderian and a separate tank brigade of the Red Army, led by Semyon Krivoshein.
Myth: About a treacherous attack
And the very definition of a “treacherous attack” at the beginning of the war between Germany and the USSR does not quite correspond to reality. Yes, the attack really came as a surprise to the Kremlin elite. But they received warnings about this repeatedly.
And the USSR was actively preparing for war. For although Germany was an ally all this time (the USSR continued to supply resources to the country until June 22, 1941), it clearly did not invest in the Soviet ideology about the need to establish communist power around the world.
Consequently, the USSR actively armed. His military appropriations in 1939 amounted to 26% of the expenditure side of the budget, or 12% of the country's total national income. In Germany in the same year, these figures were 23 percent and 9, respectively. Another question is how to actively use the available weapons.
Myth: The Germans destroyed Khreshchatyk
September 24, 2941 the capital of Ukraine was shaken by powerful explosions on Khreshchatyk. A large-scale fire began, which could not be quickly extinguished. In a few days, more than three hundred houses were destroyed on the central street of Kyiv, and thousands of city residents were left homeless.
Soviet propaganda convinced that this was done by German troops. But, as the documents show, this is the work of the Red Army. They did this with the help of radio-controlled land mines. And when fires broke out in the city, Soviet underground workers cut the hoses that pumped water from the Dnieper.
By the way, the Nazis used sabotage in Kyiv as one of the reasons for the execution of Jews in the Babi ravine.
Myth: Ukrainian nationalists are loyal servants of Hitler
Isn't it a favorite topic for Russian propagandists to accuse Ukrainians of collaborating with Hitler? In this case, the Nachtigal and Roland battalions, as well as the Galicia division, are cited as an example. Without documentary evidence, the Kremlin claims that their personnel participated in punitive actions.
In fact, Nachtigal and Roland were never SS units, and it was not SS Reichsführer Himmler who initiated their creation, and OUN. The OUN considered these battalions as the basis of the future Ukrainian army.
Another was the history of the division “Galicia”. Its creation began in the spring of 1943 on the territory of Eastern Galicia. Although the abbreviation “SS” was present in the official name of the formation until April 1945, from the very beginning the division was a purely military formation. There were more than 40 such divisions, half of which were citizens of the states occupied and allied with Germany. The Galicia division was intended exclusively for combat operations at the front along with the Wehrmacht.
The Ukrainians considered staying in “Galicia” as an opportunity to gain military experience and weapons in order to later join the UPA, which at that time did not have the opportunity to train and arm such a number of soldiers. Others hoped that the division would become the basis for the formation of Ukrainian military units to fight the USSR, even if on the side of the Germans. There were those who joined the ranks of the division in order to avoid forced export to work in Germany. A certain part of the soldiers in “Galicia” was forcibly mobilized.
Myth: Nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten
The number of those killed by the USSR in World War II is still unknown. In Soviet times, this was hidden, because it did not fit into the outline of the “great victory”. Nobody reckoned with human losses there, and these were only numbers, not the fate of people. So after the end of the war, the figure was 7 million people.
But subsequently this figure repeatedly grew – first to 20 million people, and then to 27 million people. This already happened closer to the collapse of the USSR.
The final death toll has not yet been established. There are many reasons – there was no systematic accounting of losses, unprepared fighters were often thrown into the war, even without weapons, like “cannon fodder”. No one considered such losses.
Another aspect of “unforgettableness” is that in the USSR people who were injured due to the war were quickly deprived of their lives. They also did not fit into the ideological “victory” too much. For them, “homes for the disabled” were organized away from the cities where they were forcibly sent. Allegedly for treatment and care for them. In fact, in order to remove them from the streets of cities, the goiter and the mention of them also disappeared.
