Posted: 9/17/2017
Trigger
Today, I saw a Facebook posting by Lawrence Reed, President of the Foundation for Economic Education wherein he mentioned that the Soviet Union invaded Poland on this day in 1939, i.e. 9/17/1939. Nazi Germany had only invaded Poland 16 days earlier, the official beginning of World War II.
I knew, the Soviet Union invaded Poland as well not long after Germany and that the Soviet Union also committed horrible atrocities in Poland during their occupation. I totally forgot or I never realized how soon the Soviet Union invaded as well.
The Infamous Ribbentrop Molotov Pact To Divide Poland
This pact is also known as the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact signed in Moscow on August 23, 1939. The treaty included a secret protocol that divided territories of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Romania, into German and Soviet "spheres of influence".
In November of 1939, based on this pact, Stalin invaded parts of Finland. This was followed by Soviet annexations of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and parts of Romania.
This infamous pact and the infamous secret protocol were known to the West even before World War II ended.
Stalin’s Numerous Crimes Against Humanity
Here is a very short list of crimes against humanity by Stalin:
- Show trials against opponents
- Holodomor (Ukrainian famine)
- Horrible labor camps for opponents and dissidents
- Forced resettlement of various peoples
The Cold War Could Have Been Much Shorter
I would squarely blame Truman and Churchill for failing to indict Stalin for his many crimes. Instead these two leaders of the Western world preferred to be in a coalition with Stalin way beyond the defeat of Nazi Germany and to let Stalin get away with murder. Charles de Gaulle should be mentioned here too.
Not to indict Stalin was a major blunder of the Western leaders even at a time when the U.S. had absolute military superiority thanks to the atom bomb. The Soviet Union never thanked the West for that.
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