75 Years Ago, an Evil Alliance Was Formed. Why Do We Struggle to Remember It?
The Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Image via Mr.TinDC / flickr)
Saturday marked the 75th anniversary of an historical event that seems hard to believe, in retrospect: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union teaming up.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, also known as a “honeymoon for two dictators,” staked out an official alliance between two of the twentieth century’s mightiest totalitarian states, and now, three-quarters of a century later, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is dedicated to making sure the world doesn’t forget about the many millions who were killed under communist rule.
The group held a Black Ribbon Day ceremony Saturday at the Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Aug. 23 is the anniversary of “[Josef] Stalin and [Adolph] Hitler conspiring to start World War II,” Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Executive Director Marion Smith told TheBlaze.
He added that it’s easy to forget that for the first two years of the war, 1939-1941, there was “direct cooperation” between Hitler’s SS and Stalin’s secret police.
“The level of cooperation [between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia] was official, real and deadly,” Smith claimed, saying that the Russians went so far as to round up German Jews who had fled into the USSR and returned them to Hitler’s genocidal control.
“The evil there is just so massive, it’s hard to wrap your head around,” he added.
Smith’s foundation works to keep the memory of the horrors of communism alive, which is a tougher task than some might think.
“When the Soviet Union crumbled in 1989 we started forgetting about everything, dusting off our hands,” Smith said.
The evil of Nazi Germany is nearly universally acknowledged, with the Holocaust standing as a singular representation of Nazi atrocities.
But communism has no one Holocaust to stand as an historical reminder; Communism created dozens of Holocaust-scale killings, which, Smith acknowledged, can make it harder for people to grapple with communism’s evil.
“After the fall of communism [in Europe at the end of the 1980s], they sort of came to terms country by country,” Smith said, contrasting that experience against the global rejection of Nazism in the 1940s.
Adding to the problem: The U.S. worked with the Soviet Union during World War II and afterwards.
1 thought on “Never Forget: The 75th anniversary of the communist alliance responsible for millions of deaths”
“The level of cooperation [between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia] was official, real and deadly,” Smith claimed.
Fine. But the level of cooperation between the U.S./Britain and the Soviet Union was real, lasted much-longer, and was even deadlier(Operation KeelHaul.)
“The level of cooperation [between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia] was official, real and deadly,” Smith claimed.
Fine. But the level of cooperation between the U.S./Britain and the Soviet Union was real, lasted much-longer, and was even deadlier(Operation KeelHaul.)