Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ukraine Deeply Divided over World War II Legacy
AP via Real Clear History ^ | 08/01/2013 | staff

Posted on 08/03/2013 10:55:04 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen

Ukrainians dressed in Nazi SS uniform trudge through trenches and fire model rifles in a reconstruction of a key battle against the Soviets during World War II. An Orthodox priest leads a ceremony for fallen soldiers of the Nazi unit, sprinkling his blessing over several men sporting swastikas who lower a coffin in a ritual reburial.

-snip-

More than 20 years since gaining independence from the Soviet Union, Ukraine remains painfully divided over the legacy of World War II and the actions of Ukrainian nationalist fighters, who are honored as heroes by some and condemned as traitors by others. Some of those fighters served under or cooperated with the Nazis, seeing a chance to overthrow the Soviet regime, while others fought both the Red Army and the Nazis.

(Excerpt) Read more at realclear.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: russia; stalinslegacy; ukraine; ussr
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

1 posted on 08/03/2013 10:55:04 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

Any body who would hold truck with the arabs....


2 posted on 08/03/2013 10:58:35 AM PDT by onedoug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

What a terrible dilemma thee people faced; defend your country with your oppressors (Russian Communists) who slaughtered millions of your own people just a few years before, or work with the Nazis, your “liberators” (well, for at least until the Russians were defeated and then, being Slavs, the Ukrainians would be “second class” slaves to the Nazis). Talking about choosing between two evils to survive...no wonder to this day there is issues on both sides. Bummer.


3 posted on 08/03/2013 11:03:30 AM PDT by john drake
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: john drake

A Romanian neighbor said the same thing of their country. Sided with the Nazi’s first - then with the Soviets when it looked like they would be the winner. But the Soviets didn’t let them forget that they had first sided with Hitler. (I THINK that is how it went - or vise-versa).


4 posted on 08/03/2013 11:08:01 AM PDT by 21twelve ("We've got the guns, and we got the numbers" adapted and revised from Jim M.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: john drake

I had a great uncle that was in the Russian army in WWII. Afterwards he had problems immigrating to this country.


5 posted on 08/03/2013 11:12:05 AM PDT by meatloaf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: john drake

If the Germans had been smart, and not treated the Ukrainians as terribly as the Soviets, they would have had millions of volunteers and workers and not had to waste so many resources on occupation of the Ukraine. Might have actually tipped the balance in their favor.


6 posted on 08/03/2013 11:14:03 AM PDT by Kozak ("Send them back your fierce defiance! Stamp upon the cursed alliance! To arms, to arms.....")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen
I've known Ukrainians whose families fought with the communists, and others whose families sided with the German national socialists. I predict another few generations will have to pass before Ukrainians will be able to look back dispassionately.

There's naught new in any of that: the Ukraine, some of the richest agricultural land in the world, has been invaded from all directions and fought over for millennia.

7 posted on 08/03/2013 11:18:47 AM PDT by Standing Wolf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kozak
If the Germans had been smart, and not treated the Ukrainians as terribly as the Soviets, they would have had millions of volunteers and workers and not had to waste so many resources on occupation of the Ukraine. Might have actually tipped the balance in their favor.

You're right, Kozak, and if they'd been cunning as well as smart, they'd have put off trying to invade the Soviet Union until they'd solidified their grip on Western Europe and neutralized the English.

Blind hatred never sees very far ahead.

8 posted on 08/03/2013 11:22:32 AM PDT by Standing Wolf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: john drake

Yeah, ‘can’t help but feel sorry for the Ukrainians. Rock and a hard place.


9 posted on 08/03/2013 11:39:45 AM PDT by Viennacon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

The Germans were welcomed as liberators — at first. Germany recruited Waffen SS in the areas where they’d kicked out the Soviet occupiers, and the armies on both sides weren’t fussy about collateral damage during the war years, covering a lot of territory.


10 posted on 08/03/2013 11:45:18 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Standing Wolf

Well said. Hitler directed the war like a bus driver makes all his stops on time.


11 posted on 08/03/2013 11:46:20 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: 21twelve
A Romanian neighbor said the same thing of their country. Sided with the Nazi’s first...

Those were difficult, terrible times for the small nations of eastern Europe. One thing they had to keep in mind was the fate of Yugoslavia.

When, in early 1941, the Yugoslavs rejected an alliance with Hitler, Yugoslavia was invaded and occupied.

So to keep at least some independence, many eastern European leaders made a deal with the devil, so to speak.

12 posted on 08/03/2013 11:48:03 AM PDT by Leaning Right
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

bookmark


13 posted on 08/03/2013 12:06:17 PM PDT by DFG ("Dumb, Dependent, and Democrat is no way to go through life" - Louie Gohmert (R-TX))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

Seems FR’s don’t know much about WWII. Germans armed and unformed a million man Russian army. Towards the end of WWII they fought the SS with German arms freeing Prague. The Czechs turned them over to the Russians after thanking them. They were all killed


14 posted on 08/03/2013 12:08:29 PM PDT by mosesdapoet (Serious contribution pause.Please continue onto meaningless venting no one reads.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mosesdapoet

The so-called Vlasovites. Also the Cossacks of Von Pannwitz. Some made it to the West - New Jersey.


15 posted on 08/03/2013 12:26:18 PM PDT by Argus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: mosesdapoet
Germans armed and unformed a million man Russian army.

Most of them were POWs.

Death was the alternative for many of them.

16 posted on 08/03/2013 12:26:20 PM PDT by x
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: 21twelve

During the Revolution (the Russian one), my family was made up of anarchists. When the Bolsheviks looked like they were winning, they fought with the Mensheviks. When it looked like the Mensheviks were winning, they fought with the Bolsheviks.


17 posted on 08/03/2013 12:36:27 PM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen
There are many wars throughout history in which decent,reasonable,intelligent people would want *both* sides to lose.Hitler vs Stalin is one of the best examples of such a war...best in recent history at least.Sadly,only *one* side lost.
18 posted on 08/03/2013 12:37:41 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (If Obama Had A City It Would Look Like Detroit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

Stalin was evil and would kill you.

Hitler was evil and would kill you.

So which side were the good guys on? The average Soviet soldier didn’t really start fighting until Hitler had made it apparent that he intended to kill them all either way. The odds that Stalin would kill them started looking more acceptable.

After the news arrived back (via non-official reliable sources) that most everyone who had surrendered in the summer of 1941 was dead and civilians were being liquidated, the Russians accepted death and began to take a real stand.


19 posted on 08/03/2013 12:40:47 PM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: john drake

“What a terrible dilemma thee people faced; defend your country with your oppressors (Russian Communists) who slaughtered millions of your own people just a few years before, or work with the Nazis, your “liberators” (well, for at least until the Russians were defeated and then, being Slavs, the Ukrainians would be “second class” slaves to the Nazis). Talking about choosing between two evils to survive...no wonder to this day there is issues on both sides.”

Anyone who fought the Bolsheviks under any flag was choosing the lesser of two evils; the numbers bear out their decision.


20 posted on 08/03/2013 12:55:40 PM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic war against white males (and therefore white families).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-30 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson