A tale of two friends

I have heard something peculiar on tv today. Some wise sounding british historian or politician said something to this effect (quoting from memory):

"Just because Putin is a terrible undemocratic ruler shouldn't diminish the appreciation of the sacrifice the heroic russian nation suffered to save us from Hitler."

Heroic russian nation saved us from Hitler. That's a funny way putting it. But apparently this is how an average westerner views WWII. To them I dedicate an alternative view:

The two world's most murderous regimes - one, an old-timer with a proven record of destruction and genocide, the other up-and-comer with great promise, both bent on world domination started to realize their ambitions at about the same time. Our protagonists secretely divided europe between themselves and each promised not to get into the other's way as they conquered their respective share of the world. The two giants began to swallow one nation after another largely unopposed until something happened. Predictably, each country's dictator, behind a cordial facade, was actually plotting to take down the other. The up-and-comer moved first and managed to bring terrible devastation to his rival, but was eventually defeated. His legacy was utterly destroyed, his ideas condemned even by his own nation, up-and-comer's empire was never to rise again. Old timer on the other hand though crippled by the wartime losses, got to keep the conquered territories and enjoyed gratitude of those who narrowly avoided ending up under up-and-comer's rule. Old timer's empire was to survive another half a century and be responsible for further millions of killings and destroyed lives.

Old timer never quite gave up on his dream of world domination but remembering the lesson of the great war, he started to avoid direct conflict opting instead to inspire and fund others to further his agenda leading to still new wars and genocides.

But wait - the soviet empire might have been evil, but russian soldiers (many of whom btw were conscripts of other ethnicities) were still heroic. Sure. Same as german soldiers. One big reason brits talk about heroic russians and not about heroic germans is simply that history is written by the victors. Another is that due to an accident of geography brits haven't had the pleasure of fighting russians in WWII. Had British Isles been magically transported a couple of timezones due east in the 1930s, they might have found themselves being liberated by Stalin just like the rest of Baltic countries.

Does it all still matter today? I don't know. Either way, thinking clearly about things is its own reward.

Did russians soldiers save us Hitler? They did. Much like contracting ebola will save you from dying of cancer.

Were they not heroic? They were.

Should we celebrate this fact? Sure, why not.

But in the spirit of rewarding people for honest effort I propose to also commemorate the heroic german soldiers who fought bravely but in the end failed to save us from Stalin.