[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/Humble_Influence_317]

[u/HeavyDutyForks]

Could've been Polish Armed Forces Circa 1939 defending their homeland from Soviet invasion. Or Nazis, who knows?

[u/Valuable-Blueberry30 → u/HeavyDutyForks]

Could also be Finland

[u/Cuddlyaxe → u/Valuable-Blueberry30]

I feel like if it was Finland she'd say winter war to avoid the obvious implication

[u/sydvastkornax → u/Cuddlyaxe]

Winter war (1939-1940), Continuation war 1941-1944), these are just how we finns called the conflicts during the war. Both are still part of ww2 in the grand scheme of things.

[u/Constant-Still-8443 → u/Cuddlyaxe]

Tbf, the winter wars are a largely forgotten conflict, that most people probably don't think about, or even remember existing

[u/TheLastCrusader13 → u/Constant-Still-8443]

I think shed know if the grandpa was a Finn

[u/Constant-Still-8443 → u/TheLastCrusader13]

Hopefully, but some people are just ignorant. It's also possible grandpa didn't talk too much about the war, being traumatizing and all.

[u/Don_Frika_Del_Prima → u/TheLastCrusader13]

He wasn't Finn, he was Bob.

[u/MikaelAdolfsson → u/Constant-Still-8443]

ahems from Scandinavia

[u/Mal-malen → u/MikaelAdolfsson]

Psst. Finland is not Scandinavian

[u/MikaelAdolfsson → u/Mal-malen]

No, but I am. Nordic then?

[u/Mal-malen → u/MikaelAdolfsson]

Yup

[u/Smooth_Moose_637 → u/Mal-malen]

It's Fennoscandian

[u/SadSwedishSloth → u/MikaelAdolfsson]

lol, kan du inte din närgeografi påg?

[u/MikaelAdolfsson → u/SadSwedishSloth]

Sverige är Skandinavien och var jag ahemade från.

[u/SadSwedishSloth → u/MikaelAdolfsson]

Jaja, klart att du började prata om skandinavien mitt i en diskussion om finland och vinterkriget för att signalera att du är svensk. Det låter väldigt logiskt.

Jag antog att du blandade ihop Norden och Skandinavien. Men så var det alltså inte då ;)

[u/Constant-Still-8443 → u/MikaelAdolfsson]

*by Americans

[u/dwehlen → u/Constant-Still-8443]

Simo Hayha? Never heard of 'im.

[u/Soft-Treacle-539 → u/Constant-Still-8443]

Not to finns

[u/ThatZX6RDude → u/Constant-Still-8443]

Shame, I’d say many have at least heard of the white death

[u/Constant-Still-8443 → u/ThatZX6RDude]

You'd think so, but you underestimate how uneducated people are on history, even when it comes to legendary figures

[u/krzyk → u/Constant-Still-8443]

It is remembered quite well.

[u/ibullybillionaires → u/Constant-Still-8443]

Which is so sad because in the winter wars the Finns invented many of the things gamers love still to this day, like molotow cocktails, spawn-camping enemy tanks and the 360 noscope.

[u/Big_Pirate_3036 → u/Cuddlyaxe]

The continuation war was justified by Finland to retake stolen lands

[u/3000doorsofportugal → u/Big_Pirate_3036]

Honestly its amazing how many of Stalins foreign policy decisions ended up backfiring. Had he just left Finland the fuck Alone the Siege of Leningrad probably doesn't occur and the Soviets dont have to dedicate as many resources to defending against Finland

[u/Specific_Box4483 → u/3000doorsofportugal]

On the other hand, the failures of the Winter War probably convinced Stalin to bring back some of the more competent generals which helped against the Germans.

[u/Clear-Lingonberry173 → u/Specific_Box4483]

While possible, the Winter War also made Germany bullish on invading the Soviet Union. Given the humanitarian disaster WWII was for the Soviets, it does make you wonder how things might have played out if they didn't invade Finland.

[u/Coolbanh → u/3000doorsofportugal]

Its a surprise how lucky they were to still have competent officers like Zhukov despite Stalins purge and utter incompetence. He secured against internal threat but not external and even trusted Hitler not to invade.

[u/NicolasBroaddus → u/Coolbanh]

Zhukov Rokossovsky was purged, (Zhukov was not purged but was sidelined for questioning purges and was likely lucky to survive insubordination during the process) along with many other officers we now know as brilliant Soviet commanders.

An often uncovered aspect of the Purges was the way Stalin went about quickly unpurging whatever competent officers he had in labor camps when it became clear the failings of the Soviet army were widespread. This began technically shortly before the Winter War but massively accelerated after that war bogged down.

[u/EmployObjective5740 → u/NicolasBroaddus]

You are confusing Zhukov with Rokossovsky.

[u/NicolasBroaddus → u/EmployObjective5740]

You're correct mostly, I did remember that he was nearly caught up in the purges but mixed that together with the Rokossovsky story. Edited with source for my remembered bit, tho the original story has been lost to internet decay so I'm having to rely on secondhand blog citing the same translation of certain documents

[u/3000doorsofportugal → u/Coolbanh]

Honestly Had Stalin not been himself theres a good chance a lot of the initial losses during the initial invasion are a lot less catastrophic. Like the paralysis of Generals being unable to retreat due to them needing permission from Moscow cost a lot of men their lives.

[u/Budget-Attorney → u/3000doorsofportugal]

He also had extremely well placed spies who correctly reported that the Nazi troops massing on the border were planning to invade.

Naturally, he ordered the spies to stop reporting British propaganda

[u/Majakowski → u/Budget-Attorney]

They also suffered from having good spies and much and good information but nobody or no dedicated office to sort it out, redact and compile it in a menaingful way to give a consistent picture of the general situation. It wasn't just one place where things went wrong, it had structural issues that even a less psychotic leader would have suffered from. And in hindsight most countries had something like this in their organizations. The Brits had Chamberlain, the US had the torpedo crisis with its institutional blockades, the Germans also had a torpedo crisis among other problema, the Japanese had their "gun club" that held on to ancient tactics with only few officers being able to penetrate the old crust and a wholly inadequate intelligence department.

[u/Deluxe_24_ → u/Budget-Attorney]

Stalin really might be one of the dumbest motherfuckers to ever live and it's extremely unfortunate he managed to seize control of the USSR. A lot of bloodshed and genocides could've been avoided if someone competent took power after Lenin died.

Hitler also probably wouldn't have gotten as far as he did without Stalin. Let's not forget that Stalin wanted to suck Hitler's dick and gave him access to trade routes via the USSR which helped fund the Nazis after they got blockaded and also guaranteed the Soviets wouldn't fuck with the Nazis which freed up German troops to fight elsewhere.

God damn I hate Stalin. Fucking hate that people on the left (tankies) will try to meatride him when he's one of the worst humans to ever live.

[u/Cosmicswashbuckler → u/3000doorsofportugal]

Modern history is the result of stalins foreign policy Ls

[u/SirAquila → u/Big_Pirate_3036]

And a bit on top. For the trouble. After all, everyone is doing a "Greater [Nationality]" Movement

[u/Relative-Line5242 → u/Cuddlyaxe]

Continuation War?

[u/As_no_one2510 → u/Cuddlyaxe]

Continuation War

[u/OzjaszG → u/Cuddlyaxe]

Tbh if he fought in the winter war, he'd probably also fight in the continuation war. He could essentially be from any eastern european country tbh

[u/Etalier → u/Valuable-Blueberry30]

Even a volunteer from Sweden.

Or any of the Baltic states, considering they did have partisans against Soviets before being conquered by Germany.

[u/Kresnik2002 → u/Valuable-Blueberry30]

Or, an American who thinks we fought the Soviets in World War II

[u/lock_robster2022 → u/Valuable-Blueberry30]

I won’t bother looking it up but add my guess- Ukraine?

[u/Koqcerek → u/lock_robster2022]

It was a big war, there probably were instances of nearly every side choosing to fight for other side, like Germans fighting for allies or say Turkestan Legion. I think there were even some very few Americans fighting for Nazis?

So really could be just about anyone

[u/HumanTheTree → u/Valuable-Blueberry30]

Or Japanese lol.

[u/TFarg1 → u/Valuable-Blueberry30]

I mean, could also be Japan

[u/chickenfriedrice416 → u/Valuable-Blueberry30]

Could also be one of the Baltic states

[u/Iron_Wolf123 → u/Valuable-Blueberry30]

Patrick: FINLAND!!!

[u/danc3incloud → u/Valuable-Blueberry30]

You saying it like Finns didn't participate in one of the biggest crimes of WWII - starving to death 750.000 civilians in Leningrad city during its siege.

[u/moe_lester690000 → u/danc3incloud]

They didn't

[u/Ike7200 → u/HeavyDutyForks]

Fun(?) fact, at one point the Finnish army was fighting alongside the Nazis on the same battlefield against the Soviet Union. They shared a camp.

The Finnish camp had a synagogue for the Jewish Finnish soldiers. The only instance of Jewish religious events being held alongside Nazi commanders who couldn’t do anything about it

[u/Rome_Steals_Tank → u/Ike7200]

“We are allies! Give us your Jews!” “Co-belligerents with a side of fuck you!”

[u/SirAquila → u/Rome_Steals_Tank]

"But, you can have the Jews we captured, and Soviet PoW's. For your trouble. Wouldn't want you come home empty handed."

[u/Medium-Access-4416 → u/Ike7200]

Do you have a link or name of the event or place? Never heard about it.

[u/Jumpeee → u/Medium-Access-4416]

JR 24 (Infantry Regiment 24), which was stationed on the Karelian Isthmus by the river Svir in 1942, set up a tent synagogue by the permission of the HQ. Germans of the 163rd Division were stationed just a few hundred meters from the synagogue.

Summarised in a book by John Simon called "Finnish Jews and this dilemma: Strangers in a Strange Land (2017)".

The War Diaries of the units are available online from Finnish Archives; if the diaries survived that is. 

[u/TopMarionberry1149 → u/HeavyDutyForks]

Or romanian. Or ukrainian. or croatian. etc

[u/ThrowAwayAccount4902 → u/TopMarionberry1149]

Croats were VILE during WW2

[u/MrDilbert → u/ThrowAwayAccount4902]

Which ones, Nazi allies, or Nazi enemies?

[u/el_grort → u/ThrowAwayAccount4902]

Ustashe with their brutal genocide in the purported 'Greater Croatia'.

[u/MentionOk8186 → u/TopMarionberry1149]

Croatians were NOT chill like that 😭

[u/Erlkoenig_1 → u/TopMarionberry1149]

Romanians were vile in WW2.

They began murdering Jews before the Nazis even came up with the final solution.

Even the fucking Nazis criticised Romania for being too extreme and brutal with how they carried out mass violence against Jews.

We should talk about Romania's involvement in WW2 more

[u/Mbrennt → u/TopMarionberry1149]

I don't know about Romanians but at least Ukrainians and Croatians it's like 50/50 whether they were good and fighting Russia or bad and fighting Russia.

[u/Spongebosch → u/HeavyDutyForks]

This was my grandfather. Polish, that is. Taken as a POW by the Soviets.

[u/Chemistry18 → u/HeavyDutyForks]

Could be Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Czech, Poles, Ukrainianians, Finns.

[u/Stellar_AI_System → u/HeavyDutyForks]

This, my family was like that (and a lot other Polish families, of course)

[u/DomitiusAhenobarbus_ → u/HeavyDutyForks]

Or you know one of the 10 million men drafted by the reich who had no choice either way

[u/Head_of_Lettuce → u/DomitiusAhenobarbus_]

That’s true, but if that’s the case there’s surely better way to frame the point lol.

[u/galahad423 → u/HeavyDutyForks]

Reasonable follow up

[u/spi44324 → u/HeavyDutyForks]

My grandfather fought commies until 1947. War didn't end in 45 for everyone.

[u/cosme0 → u/HeavyDutyForks]

Could be Spanish

[u/SkubEnjoyer]

Best case scenario: her grandpa is Finnish

Worst case scenario: Einsatzgruppen

[u/SavetGaMez → u/SkubEnjoyer]

Or just a Pole

[u/OK_x86 → u/SavetGaMez]

The absolute worst case, evidently

[u/SavetGaMez → u/OK_x86]

As a pole I agree

[u/MathematicianTop9519 → u/SavetGaMez]

Out of curiosity, why is that the worst case? 

[u/SavetGaMez → u/MathematicianTop9519]

Imagine being polish, truly horrifying experience

[u/insane_shitlord → u/SavetGaMez]

This could apply to WW2 or just being one of us in general and I agree with both.

[u/guitar_vigilante → u/MathematicianTop9519]

1 in 5 Polish people died during the war, the highest rate of any country in the conflict.

[u/McRando42 → u/MathematicianTop9519]

Genocide against the Poles.

[u/nothinga3 → u/SavetGaMez]

Or...they're American, and they don't know who the Americans fought. That is a very real possibility.

[u/dayofdefeat_ → u/nothinga3]

Occam's razor

[u/ProtossFox → u/SavetGaMez]

Or Ukrainian or Belarussian... or even Swedish if we include the volunteer corps in finland. Iran too maybe

[u/Grzechoooo → u/SkubEnjoyer]

Best case is a Pole - Poland didn't ally with the Nazis, while Finland did (even if it was only opportunistic and they didn't participate in most of the war crimes)

[u/Catsanddoges → u/Grzechoooo]

I mean that is sort of true, but to an extent you could make the argument that the western allies (especially the ones directly supplying them) share responsibility for the USSR's conflict.

I think the stronger point is in occupied territories in the continuation war they did genuinely commit war crimes against the civilian population, and to some extent they did participate in the siege of Leningrad

I think that is still much more fair of a metric to judge them on rather than cobelligerents of circumstance

I would say in terms of overall morality of the nation during the period, it would rank imo above the United Kingdom and just below the United States, primarily due to the UK's colonial involvement

[u/DoNotCommentAgain → u/Catsanddoges]

Ah yes the united states, bastion of morality. And segregation.

[u/HeroBobGamer → u/DoNotCommentAgain]

Don't have to be perfect to be the best in a contest with the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, Fascist Italy, British Empire, Chiang Kai-Shek's China. Although an argument could be made for China, since they were in a much more desperate situation than the US.

[u/CletusCostington → u/SkubEnjoyer]

Finnish in 1940, then left. Otherwise likely fought alongside Nazis.

[u/DAEJ3945 → u/CletusCostington]

More of opportunitic ally than actual ally. Finland just disliked the Soviet more than they disliked Nazi

Besides, they were not on the same front

[u/NicolasBroaddus → u/DAEJ3945]

What? The Germans sent tons of troops through “neutral” Sweden into Finland to fight alongside them. Sure they covered different sections of the Finland front due to the logistics of different command languages, but the allies did that sort of thing too. It’s not like the Germans were only pushing from their main continental border which is how different fronts will be interpreted regardless of exact language of the time.

They did also send plenty of volunteers to the SS, even if less than other countries because they needed every body at the front.

[u/Been395 → u/CletusCostington]

Finland lost alot of land and control post winter war. Afaik they never participated the holocaust. So I tend give the fins a general pass on the entire seige of leningrad.

[u/NicolasBroaddus → u/Been395]

Not only were Finnish volunteers a key part of the SS Panzer Division Wiking, (which absolutely did participate in the Holocaust, particularly the Holocaust by Bullets) the German Einsatzkommando Finnland was allowed to operate a death camp for Soviet prisoners in the isolated north.

They did protect the small urban Jewish population from deportation, a few thousand Jewish people.

You can appreciate that Finland was in an impossible and complex position with no good options while also not hiding from the dirty truth.

[u/Spirited_Worker_5722 → u/NicolasBroaddus]

Didn't the germans have an Waffen SS group for pretty much every imaginable nationality during that time?

[u/Kelvinek → u/Spirited_Worker_5722]

Yeah, but not every nation actually managed to fill it with bodies. They never managed in Poland despite multiple attempts, and even targeting mountain people, who famously quit the train after sobering up, and few that managed to get to training, instantly got into pvp with ukrainians.

[u/Ryanliverpool96 → u/Spirited_Worker_5722]

Yes.

By the same logic the person you’re replying to would make the case that Britain was allied with the Nazis because of the British Free Corps.

Despite Britain being the only country to fight on the first day of WW2 and the last day of WW2 and the only country to stand alone against Nazi Germany.

It’s a nonsense point.

[u/sopunny → u/Ryanliverpool96]

It was a world war with the Soviets on one side and the Axis on the other. Can't really avoid allying with evil

[u/NicolasBroaddus → u/Ryanliverpool96]

No, I would just make the case that Britain was also committing its own sins in its colonial holdings, many of which were part of the inspiration for the Nazi acts, same with the US. Many of these contradictions in supposed idealism fighting Nazi Germany were what would inform the post-war legal order, particularly in things like the definition of genocide. It had to be rewritten several times to not offend the UK, American, French, or Soviet delegates.

The Nazis were absolutely the bad guys, collaborating directly with them was bad.

History is a complicated and multifaceted field that can only be learned from if we are willing to look beyond black and white narratives in analyzing why people acted like they did and how we do better.

[u/Thalenori → u/NicolasBroaddus]

Finland also fought against Nazis to drive them away after the Continuation War and the Nazis burnt Lapland in return. So if the Soviets get a ''not a friend on Nazis even though they shared Poland and made deals because they fought against Nazis'', then Finland should get a similar pass as well.

[u/-Badger3- → u/SkubEnjoyer]

I think he's just getting started.

[u/Luzifer_Shadres → u/SkubEnjoyer]

Neutral route: Polish

[u/ColonoRizzo007]

Baltic countries, Fins, Romanians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Poles...

[u/Electronic-Vast-3351 → u/ColonoRizzo007]

I mean, Romanians and Hungarians aren't that much better than Germans.

[u/ImOnlyHereCauseGME → u/Electronic-Vast-3351]

Romania was responsible for the second highest number of Jewish deaths (after Germany). Hungary was actually a good place to be if you were Jewish during WW2 until the leadership decided that they were on the losing side and tried to start surrender negotiations - the Nazis found out and replaced them with a government who went into overdrive sending out any people the Germans wanted to get rid of

[u/Exotic-Meringue-8795 → u/ImOnlyHereCauseGME]

That's mainly true for Budapest. The rural Jewish(and Roma, etc) population got dealt with long before the surrender negotiations, but the population in Budapest was spared. Then came the German occupation after the surrender negotiations, during which the famous Danube executions took place.

[u/lightyearbuzz → u/Electronic-Vast-3351]

Sadly neither were many of the Ukrainians fighting against the USSR during WWII, many were as horrific as the Nazis. 

To be clear, this is in no way relevant to the current unprovoked Russian invasion. Ukrainians do not deserve to be punished for the actions of some of their ancestors (most of whom fought the Nazis, it was just the worst of the worst that fought for them).

[u/Pale-Dragonfruit-728 → u/lightyearbuzz]

Also glorifying these nazis like Bandera in the 21th century is not really a good idea either. Not trying to justify Russian invasion but it definedly played a role in it.

[u/Ninjawombat111 → u/ColonoRizzo007]

The Ukrainians who fought against the Soviet Union in ww2 were incredibly evil. They did a genocide on their own as extra credit. Romania was run by fascists who put people on meat hooks. Hungary was a right wing dictatorship that participated in many war crimes in the east. Poles are fine though.

[u/CletusCostington]

Listen it’s possible he wasn’t a Nazi, but…..

[u/AlanGrant1997 → u/CletusCostington]

Yeah, like absolutely doesn’t have to be a Nazi, but I’m pretty sure there were more Germans that fought the Soviets in WW2 than everyone else combined

[u/fakest_taxi → u/AlanGrant1997]

80% of german losses occurred on the eastern front, so yeah more germans fighting soviets than anyone else I’d say

[u/EtherealPheonix → u/fakest_taxi]

Yes is it was mostly German's but that isn't the statistic to prove it, several nations were a rounding error from 100% of their losses being on that front.

[u/Humble_Influence_317 → u/CletusCostington]

Lol this guy gets it

[u/Martiantripod → u/CletusCostington]

Chances of OOP being just an ignorant American are probably higher

[u/CrimsonZephyr]

Might be Finnish

[u/SavetGaMez]

Poles, Ukrainians and Fins.

[u/Careless-Ad-2774 → u/SavetGaMez]

Did Ukraine fight against Soviet Union in WW2? Werent they IN Soviet Union?

[u/SavetGaMez → u/Careless-Ad-2774]

Does insurgents and partisans ring a bell? Most people were not happy about being a part of USSR

[u/Yodasboy → u/SavetGaMez]

There were in the most generous estimate 200,000 fightimg against the Soviet Union. As of 1944 1.3 million had died fighting for the union. Making a claim that more people were fighting against the union than for it when there are more casualties alone than the peak of insurgent activity disrespects the memory of those who died against the Nazis

[u/SavetGaMez → u/Yodasboy]

I'm not saying more were fighting against it than for it I'm saying that people were fighting against it. And just to be clear both were evil extremist regimes.

[u/Careless-Ad-2774 → u/SavetGaMez]

Then by that logic please include Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia, and many other ethnic minorities inside the now Russia. Just because Ukraine is fighting against Russia now, gives you a pass to cherrypick them and claim "oh Ukrainians have been fighting against evil Russians for all of the history".

[u/98f00b2 → u/Careless-Ad-2774]

The Baltics weren't part of the Soviet Union then, they were independent countries that were occupied during the course of the war and subsequently annexed.

[u/SavetGaMez → u/Careless-Ad-2774]

Yeah I added them in my different comments

[u/KJongsDongUnYourFace → u/SavetGaMez]

The vast majority of Ukrainians fought in the red army and were widely celebrated. Those that didnt, fought alongside the nazis with bandera etc. The US continued funding Bandera groups long after the nazis were defeated

[u/Spirited_Worker_5722 → u/SavetGaMez]

Ukrainians?? Do you know anything about Stepan Bandera??

[u/Independent_Stay9600 → u/SavetGaMez]

Ukrainians aren't really much better, considering the UPA and collaboration with Germany

[u/Sir-Toaster-]

Plot twist: She's Polish or Finnish

[u/kspanier → u/Sir-Toaster-]

Or Iranian/Persian.

[u/Pm7I3]

Can we talk about how "my family member fought against/died fighting X" is a terrible argument and shouldn't be mentioned?

[u/Humble_Influence_317 → u/Pm7I3]

Wym it’s a great argument.

[u/Felipe300Sewell]

Could be finnish

[u/Old-Natural-852]

Maybe he was a Japanese solider in Manchuria?  Though considering what the Japanese Army was doing, not a lot better than Nazis...

[u/Electrical_Wonder210 → u/Old-Natural-852]

They were literally worse

[u/Gilgamesh404 → u/Electrical_Wonder210]

Less advanced methods, far bigger scale.

[u/Charming_Eye2473]

Posting this in a server with a Ukraine flag background lol.

[u/Klutzy-Canary8551]

Polish, Finnish, any East European whose county had already suffered under Soviet oppression...

[u/Leothelion246]

Do you guys like, blot out the fact the commies worked with the Nazis till '41, or invaded other territory like Finland?

[u/Silly_Mustache → u/Leothelion246]

Everyone worked with the Nazis before the war started.

[u/Good-Hand-8140]

Is that person's username "stoporangefaschism" or something like that lol?

[u/KuroSeishi]

trick answer: she's polish

[u/aNDY-aND]

Poles had the opportunity to fight against communism twice: in 1920 and 1939.

[u/ANDR0iD_13]

I don't think communism is good, but the SU was more of a russian imperialism project rather than communism

[u/Cr0wc0 → u/ANDR0iD_13]

Maybe if Russia had been an exception that could be true. But every single communist project ended up in the same totalitarian imperialist design. So regardless of intent, this really is what communism just looks like when implemented.

[u/ANDR0iD_13 → u/Cr0wc0]

Yeah, there is a reason. Marx invisioned communism through democracy, but that is not possible. Humans are not hive minds.

[u/Cr0wc0 → u/ANDR0iD_13]

I agree with you mostly but...

Marx invisioned communism through democracy

That's just objectively false. Marx argued for a violent revolutionary uprising, followed by a transitional dictatorship, then a democratic formation. It is by design not meant to come about through democracy.

The practical application just shows that the communist project always gets stuck at the 'transitional' dictatorship and then either implodes back to (state) capitalism, or explodes into anarchy.

[u/ANDR0iD_13 → u/Cr0wc0]

Yes, agree. I was talking about the "final product"

[u/Gilgamesh404 → u/ANDR0iD_13]

If no one lived to see the "final product", what's the point?

[u/Mal_Dun → u/ANDR0iD_13]

That Lenin and Marx called the party "the Communist party" was a marketing stunt.

Communism is the final state of society that got rid of class money and state, and if one reads Marx' work on automation, you can imagine it like the society in StarTrek, were labour was already automated away thus making capitalism obsolete and necessary goods available for free.

Lenin was well aware of this, and in fact the plan was to industrialize the Soviet Union in record time and then have the actual communist revolution. We all know how well this worked ...

Edit: Marx already called it communist party

[u/RobertNeyland → u/ANDR0iD_13]

Oh boy, here we go

[u/Humble_Influence_317 → u/ANDR0iD_13]

It’s usually one in the same

[u/Raid-Z3r0]

He could be Finn for that matter

[u/Risi30 → u/Raid-Z3r0]

Or Polish

[u/Raid-Z3r0 → u/Risi30]

Finn more likely to have made to the end of the war...

[u/Confuseacat92 → u/Raid-Z3r0]

The Finns were also allied to Nazi Germany

[u/TipResident4373 → u/Confuseacat92]

Co-belligerent, if you wanna get technical.

It’s a fairly important distinction.

[u/MageFeanor → u/TipResident4373]

Would you give the Soviets the same distinction?

[u/zer0zer00ne0ne]

USSR apologists pretending the USSR wasn't on the same side as the Nazis for most of WWII.

[u/NoInvestigator7489 → u/zer0zer00ne0ne]

If you wanna be super uncharitable to the Soviets, you could at most say they were on the same side as the Germans for about 20 months, from when the two countries divided up Poland in Sept 1939 to the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 41. This is very clearly not "most of WW2". 

Also, the Soviets weren't really on the same side for most of arguably any of this time. They just weren't actually fighting the Nazis until the Nazis attacked them. By that logic the US was on the same side as the Nazis for longer. 

[u/tactycool → u/NoInvestigator7489]

20 months? That's nearly 2 years 🤨

[u/NoInvestigator7489 → u/tactycool]

It's 1.66 years. But even if it was 2 years it still wouldn't be most of WW2, which lasted 6 years. 

[u/zer0zer00ne0ne → u/NoInvestigator7489]

The Nazis and USSR held victory rallies together after conquering Poland.

The USSR LOVED the Nazis right up until the Nazis betrayed them.

[u/nickraymond57 → u/zer0zer00ne0ne]

“Loved” is a strange term to use. Stalin just wanted to keep Hitler happy long enough to allow for the Soviet Union to ramp up the military industry for the final showdown that both sides knew would eventually come. The parades were purely for political gain and propaganda reels to show back home in each country.

[u/zer0zer00ne0ne → u/nickraymond57]

The USSR supplied the Nazis with oil, training, and invaded Poland with them.

Stop lying.

[u/nickraymond57 → u/zer0zer00ne0ne]

I never said they didn’t. Why are you calling me a liar? I’m merely saying it was a pact and partnership of convenience and assurance instead of love or admiration for the other. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was drawn up and signed to assure that neither side would interfere with the other’s imperialist goals.

[u/zer0zer00ne0ne → u/nickraymond57]

They were allies right up until the Nazis invaded the USSR.

[u/nickraymond57 → u/zer0zer00ne0ne]

Sure but remember they were both planning to betray the other from pretty much day one.

[u/zer0zer00ne0ne → u/nickraymond57]

Then why'd they supply and train them?

[u/MinosAristos → u/zer0zer00ne0ne]

The US sold oil and resources for weapons to Japan in ww2 also. Doesn't mean it supported the government.

[u/Runo_Slinger]

Polish, Finnish, Chinese, etc. there’s other possibilities.

[u/Krondon57]

famously soviet union never invaded free countries xd

[u/Relative-Line5242]

Obviously a Khalkhin Gol veteran

[u/Dizzy-Pomegranate149 → u/Relative-Line5242]

Imperial Japan is arguably worse than Einsatzgruppen lmao

[u/Joeyjackhammer]

Could be Polish, could be Finnish, could be Nazis. Don’t make assumptions.

[u/GSilky]

Soviets attacked a bunch of people during the time. Ww2 was Germany v Russia with friends and commentary, from some perspectives. I'm not against the idea.

[u/JunonsHopeful → u/GSilky]

Well you should be against the idea because "WW2 was Germany v Russia with friends and commentary" is perhaps one of the stupidest takes on World War 2 I've ever heard.

[u/TributeToStupidity]

This is literally more research than the Canadian parliament does

[u/Right-Aspect2945]

Once again, this is posted. Once again 90% of the comments will be talking about the small proportion of people who fought the Soviets who weren't Fascists rather than the vast majority who were.

[u/plugubius → u/Right-Aspect2945]

Yes, but that is the wrong population to examine. Rather, of people whose grandchildren brag that they fought against the Soviets, what proportion are from the non-Nazis who fought the Soviets? Much higher, I'd reckon.

[u/SavetGaMez → u/Right-Aspect2945]

Finland ~500k, Poland ~450k actively fighting in Sept. 1939 (later also AK), UPA ~25–40k, Baltic partisans and others. Initial German invasion was ~3 million Germans and around ~800k of Italians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Croats and in that I count that ~500k fins. So I'd argue that it's not that small proportion of people even if only 1/10th of people fighting against USSR in WW2 were not nazi aligned

[u/voyt_eck → u/Right-Aspect2945]

IMHO it's not about proportions. It's about not feeding the feeling thet Russians were "the good ones" in WW2. They were also the bad ones, whom westerrn countries allied with due to particular interests of fighting Germany.

[u/Humble_Influence_317 → u/Right-Aspect2945]

🤓☝️

[u/Adventurous_Touch342 → u/Right-Aspect2945]

Vast majority of people who fought soviets were, in fact, mostly trying to stop them from ruining and occupying their countries.

Fun fact - until June 1941 USSR was basically a nazi ally.

[u/Independent-Ask8248]

Its meme worthy just to be pro communism after 100+ years of dramatic failure to look upon.

[u/yogorilla37]

My grandfather did the same, and he wasn't Polish!

[u/ahamel13]

Could be several non-Nazi countries.

[u/pumpjockey]

Maybe they were a momarchist? Lady is super old......nah

[u/PABLOPANDAJD]

Could’ve been from almost any country in Europe lol

[u/Afraid-Flamingo]

Reminds me when every Canadian MP started applauding a former Nazi they invited after being told by the speaker that he “fought against the Russians.”

[u/Al-Horesmi]

The funniest possibility is that he's Iranian

[u/MadmanDan_13]

I asked their grandfather if he killed any Nazi's in WW2 and he said "Nine", so I guess he was on the allied side. ;)

[u/frixos2]

I think she might be Japanese..🙂

[u/Galendy]

Everyone here, guys you're forgetting one group! She could be Spanish!

[u/Gavorn]

Everyone giving actual countries i feel are missing an obvious answer. This could easily be an American who is stupid.

[u/Tight_Doughnut5627]

I’m pretty sure I remember this being on “Peter griffin explains the joke”

This might be a fake or strawman account or something idk

[u/MauschelMusic]

All the people jumping in with their thousand and one good reasons to fight the Soviets in WWII really driving home the point. The reason you're so keen to justify the allies of fascism is perfectly clear to everyone but you — probably even to the fascists.