Why is Hitler’s legacy denounced by modern Germans while Stalin’s still holds favor among Russians today?

Answer 1

Hitler nearly brought about the destruction of Germany, a Germany that has been very successful since the recontruction after the war.
Stalin was also much maligned after his death in 1953 (rightfully so), but in the chaos and hard times that exist in the post-Soviet era, a lot of older people look back on those times with nostalgia. There was public order. There was work. There was a strong central authority.
Stalin may have brutalized his people and his armies with his paranoid cynicism, but at least the men who served and their families could point to his reign as a time in which they saved civilization from the barbarity of Nazism with their own blood. There's a heady machismo is being able to say that even if you didn't feel so good while you were doing it at the time because of the deprivations you were feeling on the battlefield.

Answer 2

It does have a lot to do with the USSR being on the winning side while Germany was left in ruins.
If Stalin was so good to his people why were they so afraid to help him when he was dying? The reality is that Stalin killed far more people then Hitler, he had longer to do so. The Russians were just as anti-Semitic as the Nazis. The difference is that Germany were open about there policies whereas Stalin killed quietly. Had the war developed into Allies vs USSR and we had won, many atrocities would have been revealed.

Answer 3

The Germans were demonized for following the commands of their leaders.They had more sactions placed on them than anyone else. They were occupied longer than all the other Axis Countries combined.Hitler came into power from the Germans being over sactioned after WWI and the citizens were searching for any relief possible. The Russians , Japanese , and Italians were never seen as the Devils that the Germans were made out to be. Hitler was a mad man but his countrymen paid a price so high that they were willing to do what ever it took to be left in a moderate peace.

Answer 4

Good question, Stalin probably killed more people than Hitler. But, Stalin did not start the second world war and although communism (well, not the real thing) was spreading as a totalitarian ideology, Stalin did not Blitzkrieg his way through Europe or south to Africa.
I think Hitler just wanted too much to fast. Spread himself to thin whereas the system was in place when Stalin replaced Lenin.

Answer 5

The Germans realized that Hitler almost Germany permanently destroyed their country. On the other hand Russians had their first real days in the sun of world prominence. Russians are nostalgic about Stalin and have forgotten what a beast he was. Russians are used to having tyrants, the Tsars were tyrants of the first order. Germany had tasted democracy in the 20's and although a failure, the Wiemar Republic, had the seeds of modern Germany.

Answer 6

I'm not at all sure that I agree with your premise. In real terms there are still many Germans who still think that Adolf got a lot of stuff right, of course they won't tell you that openly, but try spending a few evenings with your best german buddies, crack a few frothy ones, and see what comes out.....scary.

With the Russian people it's almost exactly the opposite, officially Uncle Joe was knocked of his super-star pedestal over 40 years ago, but many Russians remember the door crashing in at 3:00 am, and people just disappearing forever, for no more than questioning things. And so it takes a long time for that kind of oppression to wear off. Plus remember that prior to the October Revolution ( and arguably one of the leading reasons for it ) the Czarist regime had a fairly fearsome secret police of it's own, the Okhrona. The KGB was a direct descendant, at least in it's methods.

In relative levels of murderousness cuddly ole Joe was 20,000 leagues ahead of Adolf, who actually killed very few of his own citizens, not counting the ones who died fighting his wars. Stalin on the other hand was responsible for at least 60,000,000 deaths, over half of which were his own citizens. That would tend to scare the folks in the barrios of Mockba up a bit, wouldn't you say ?

See link below.

So.............think again, maybe it isn't quite how it looks on the surface ?

Answer 7

This is a question I have pondered myself, and I think maybe because Hitler was more of an issue and threat compared to Stalin. Everyone makes such a big deal of Hitler, and of course that's ok, but Stalin did help take down Hitler so I think that maybe the one good thing Stalin did compared to Hitler who did nothing good for the world. If you find out more let me know.

Answer 8

Hitler lost the war. Winners wrote history. Stalin lost nothing. The Russians lost the cold war long after Stalin died and he became a hero in the hearts of Russian people. Historians in Russia today generally believe Stalin was as brutal as Hitler, but ordinary Russian people still are emotionally attached to him. Anyhow, it was Stalin who led Russian people to victory during WWII and turned Russia into a superpower at the end of the war. At least, he is a war hero, if he did nothing good to the Russian people after the war.
Here are links to his biography. Hope it helps.
http://www.toy-soldier-gallery.com/Articles/Stalin/Stalin.html
http://www.stel.ru/stalin/

Answer 9

I think that Stalin holds favor with a very few Russians. They even removed his body from Lenin's tomb and buried him in the Kremlin wall with the lesser notables. Hitler is denounced in Germany because of his policy of genocide in every country that the Germans occupied.

Answer 10

It has a lot to do with Hitler losing, but the other side of that is that Stalin is seen as the saviour of his people during WWII , leading them to turning back the German invasion. Sinc ethey won, the communists had decades after his death to have his image idolized in the minds of Russians.