May 09, 2016

Not to Be Forgotten


Not to Be Forgotten

[This essay was delivered on Vermont Public Radio on May 10, 2010. To hear it, visit here.]

For 45 years, the Cold War made it politically incorrect to recognize Soviet sacrifices and victories in defeating Hitler in World War II. Yet the Cold War has now been over for 20 years, so it seems a good time to unequivocally acknowledge the primary contribution of the Soviets in the winning of that war.

The Soviet regime had a very cavalier attitude toward statistics. If something didn’t compute, it was hidden. And even if something wasn’t hidden, it probably still didn’t add up.

So it was with Soviet statistics on World War II. While the Soviet leadership commonly pronounced that 20 million citizens died in what they called The Great Patriotic War, we now know that this astonishing statistic was a vast and purposeful understatement.

In 1941, the population of the Soviet Union was nearly 197 million. In 1946, after the war was over, it was just over 170 million – reduced by a shocking 13%.

Today, official military records indicate that more than eight and a half million Soviet soldiers died in combat. Yet more than twice that many civilians perished during the war.

According to historian Olga Verbitskaya, best estimates are that roughly 18 million Soviet civilians died during WWII, including eight and a half million from famine, bombings, relocations and occupation, more than 2 million from forced labor in Germany, and nearly seven and a half million in German concentration camps, jails and ghettos.

Further, Verbitskaya notes, we should not forget to calculate “indirect losses,” meaning those who died prematurely after the war was over, due to poor living and medical conditions, injuries sustained during the war, and declining birth rates, which fell 30-50% versus the pre-war era. In all, it is estimated that nearly 50 million Soviets (one quarter of the pre-war population) had their lives cut short by what some have been so bold to call “The Good War.”

Yet in spite of these terrible losses - caused primarily by the Nazis, but also by strategic errors and the genocidal policies of Stalin and his cohorts - there is also the reality of victory.

The facts are unequivocal: 80-90% of all German and Axis forces killed in Europe during World War II died on the Russian front. It was the largest theater of warfare in history and, as historian Chris Bellamy wrote, the “single most decisive component of World War II.”

It is therefore my hope that, as we observe the 65th anniversary of the end of war in Europe, we will also fully acknowledge the 26 million Soviets who laid down their lives defending their homeland – and by extension - all of us.

Such recognition would not diminish the sacrifices and accomplishments of American soldiers or those of any other nation. But it might well strengthen our relations with Russia, at a time when our two countries are once again allied in a worldwide war against terror and evil.

You Might Also Like

WWII in Russian Cultural Memory
  • June 22, 2016

WWII in Russian Cultural Memory

June 22nd, as any student of Soviet history knows, is the day remembered in the official histories as the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. Recent TV productions have sought to keep the state sanctioned view of the war alive in popular memory.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955