Soviet War Dead [Infographic]

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) ^ | Sunday, May 10, 2015 | Vadim Erlikman

[WhiskeyX]

Soviet War Dead [Infographic] Population Losses in the 20th Century: A Reference.

Key Civilian Dead Military Dead Deaths as % of 1940 population

[UnwashedPeasant]

Interesting. 25.3% of the population in Belarus was killed in war. Almost 3/4 of that was civilian.

[Maine Mariner]

Those numbers are certainly disheartening. I wonder how many fewer there would have been if Stalin had not signed that treaty with Germany on August 23 1939.

[SSS Two]

How did Uzbekistan have 220,000 civilian casualties? It wasn’t invaded.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Stalin killed at least that many in his purges.

[PGR88]

The Soviet Union, like Marxists everywhere, sowed seeds of violence and death, and was simply reaping what it sowed.

[WhiskeyX]

“How did Uzbekistan have 220,000 civilian casualties? It wasn’t invaded.”

A Wikipedia article has a discussion of the unreliability of the various studies used to determine the Soviet casualties, especially those studies which were adopted as the official report/s of the Soviet Government. Most independent sources cite major inconsistencies in the census records and assorted other records which tend to indicate the Soviet war dead being 2 to 2.5 times what the official Soviet reports claimed.

With respect to the civilian casualties in Uzbekistan, the Wikipedia article has this to say:

The source of the figures on the table is Vadim Erlikman. Poteri narodonaseleniia v XX veke : spravochnik. Moscow 2004. ISBN 5-93165-107-1 pp. 23–35 Erlikman notes that these figures are his estimates. This table includes civilian losses in Transcaucasian and Central Asian republics due to famine and disease caused by wartime shortfalls estimated by Vadim Erlikman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties_of_the_Soviet_Union

[jjotto]

In other words, millions killed by Stalin were blamed on the Germans.

[SSS Two]

In other words, millions killed by Stalin were blamed on the Germans.

Yes. Famine was a reoccurring event in the Soviet Union during Stalin's rule. I'm not aware of any other large scale famine during WW2 that occurred a thousand miles from any fighting.

[jjotto]

Sorta like how drought always causes dislocations when Communists seize power, as in California.

[WhiskeyX]

“In other words, millions killed by Stalin were blamed on the Germans.”

Only in part. See the Katyn Forest Massacre of Poland’s military officers and intelligentsia perpetrated by Stalin’s Soviet Union and blamed upon the German NAZIs. Also note the civilian deaths of minority populations in the other Soviet republics such as Kazakhstan.

[golux]

Thoughts -

I am a son of the cold war, but my eyes are opened by many friends and acquaintances to the fact that for the most part, "they are just like us," but whereas we were blessed by bounty and freedom they were imprisoned mentally by communism. The smart ones see it now, the weak ones do not - and I know more than a few who enjoy (steal from) our socialist bounty in the USA but still speak of the "great days." These are the terminally diseased, and by the way they are die-hard Democrats.

Any man that does not understand this: that we are all one, cannot rightfully call himself a Christian or Jew. Communism was an international scourge and it is returning. (Can you guess to where?) National Socialism's police state was a global evil and it is on the march. (Can you guess where?)

Sometimes though I am a flag-waver I forget race, nationality, pride, and puffy chests for a moment and ask myself:

"For all my declarations, and as I pay my incessant taxes and unending tolls and tickets upon tickets and permit fees of kind upon kind and yet another kind and licenses for home and business and building and the rest of it... And as I send my kids to war to spread "my" ideals... Am I free?"

I certainly want to be. Are you?

Which of your leaders do you believe in? You congressmen? Your state senators? Mr. Hussein Obama? JOHN KERRY?

These people are the face of freedom.

[jmacusa]

Hey, Old Joe was racking up Russian bodies the moment he got into power. Nobody killed more commies than Joe Stalin.

[Larry381]

My uncle served in the Wehrmacht and fought in Russia between 1941-1944 when he was captured by the Soviets. Upon his release in 1950 he emigrated to the US.
I remember him telling me that every time the Russians recaptured a city or village in the Ukraine the NKVD would kill thousands of its own citizens.
Once his company counterattacked one of these newly liberated villages and found that the Russians had raped and murdered all the young Ukrainian girls who had worked in the kitchens and laundries for the Germans.
This was a major reason why whenever the Germans retreated (in south Ukraine) thousands of Russian and Ukrainian citizens left with them.
They would pay for that after the war.

[Maine Mariner]

You are correct!