Fighting Words: Schäuble Says Putin’s Crimea Plans Reminiscent of Hitler (Germany finance minister)

As Germany’s Mr. Euro, Wolfgang Schäuble is one of the country’s best-known politicians abroad. When the finance minister speaks, people generally tend to listen. But on Monday morning, public statements at his ministry raised eyebrows. Schäuble made statements drawing parallels between the politics of Adolf Hitler and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Schäuble said Russia’s actions in Ukraine remind him of the expansionism of Nazi Germany. “Hitler already adopted such methods in Sudetenland,” Schäuble said at a public event at the Finance Ministry in Berlin on Monday morning. “That’s something that we all know from history.” Schäuble’s comments were directed at the justification provided by the Russians for annexing Crimea. Russian officials claim ethnic Russian residents of the peninsula are threatened by Ukraine. The Nazis argued similarly in the 1938 that “ethnic Germans” in peripheral regions of what was then Czechoslovakia required protection.

Given stewing tensions between Russia and the West and the finance minister’s political prominence in Europe, Schäuble’s comments could further intensify discord. …

Crimea didn’t really belong to Russia until the eighteenth century. It’s been a real point of contention all through the centuries, spending a long time under Mongol rule and then under Ottoman vassalage. (Unless you’re talking about historic Kuthenian rule?)

. Crimea has always belonged to Russia. To compare the two situations is offensive.... I guess Germany should know why one is like the other.

Always? Is that Kremlin Koolaid in your vodka?
The first Rus polity was the Rus Khaganate around Holmgard/Novgorod in the north. The second was the Kievan Rus, which is the parent of Ruthenia/Ukraine and Russia. The Varangians didn't even conquer this until 882, if not later. So now we are in the 920s with the Kievan Rus, which didn't conquer Crimea from the Khazars until 988. But there is a problem. the Kievan Rus (again both Ukranian and Russian) only helf Crimea from another few decades before the Pechenegs cut them off from Crimea. The Crimea was later conquered by the Kipchaks/Kumans/Poltsovoi at the end of the 11th century. (And if you will not, the Krim Tatars whether they are Muslim Christian, Rabbinate Jew, or Karaite Jew all speak related Kipchak dialects.) The area was then conquered by the Mongol in 1239. When the Mongol Empire collapsed, the Crimean Khanate (Mongol-Kipchak) was created in 1441 and lasted until 1783. Russian then conquered and held it until 1954 when it was added to Ukraine. So thans about 250 years of the last 1026 years under Russian rule. Meanwhile it was Kipchak or Mongol for about 583 years. Of course prior to 988, it belonged to various Oghuric Turks (Huns, Avars, Bulghars, Khazars)from 376 until 988. So if you are going to say that history is what matters, well then it belongs to the Karaylar and Krimchaks.

...it belongs to the Karaylar and Krimchaks.

Weren't they neighbors of the Hatfields and McCoys? Seriously though, the hate America crowd engages in the same hyperbole trying (successfully) to make Americans guilty for living in a land once roamed by the natives here. Thanks for your knowledge on this subject. I am very interested in central European history. It really never gets boring if you go there and try to understand it.

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