German columnist: Soviets did not liberate Germany by themselves

For the past few days, all eyes have been on Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin's military extravaganza commemorating the "Great Antifascist Victory" by Mother Russia.  May 9 is Putin's day:

"During his 15-year rule, Putin has turned May 9 into Russia’s most important state holiday, and this year’s marks the most militarized and politicized it’s every been. The Kremlin’s English language television channel, Russia Today, bragged about nuclear bombers and tactical surface-to-air missile systems on the square. The show was meant to wow the populace and the world, and it mostly succeeded. Many viewers who saw fighter-bombers forming the number “70” in the sky said they were impressed."

Not everyone was celebrating for Russia, however.  For the people of Poland, the Baltic states, and elsewhere in eastern Europe, V-E days marks the end of one brutal occupation and the beginning of another.

Writing in Der Tagespiegel, the journalist and author Harald Martenstein reminds his readers that Stalin didn't free Germany from Nazi rule by himself.  He expresses something that is rare to see today in the German press: gratitude to the United States for the role it played in defeating Hitler:

Ich bin dankbar dafür, dass Hitler den Krieg verloren hat und ich nicht in einem Naziland leben muss. Aber ich bin auch dankbar dafür, dass nicht die Sowjetunion der alleinige Sieger des Krieges gewesen ist. Mit Stalin als alleinigem Sieger wäre ganz Europa in ein Straflager verwandelt worden. Die Rote Armee hat den Überlebenden der Konzentrationslager die Freiheit gebracht, danach wurden die Lager mit neuen Insassen gefüllt, von denen viele unschuldig waren und viele starben. Hitlers Ende war eine Befreiung. Danach begann, im sowjetisch besetzten Teil Europas, der Aufbau eines neuen Unterdrückungssystems.[...] Dass Deutschland heute ein freies Land ist, verdanken wir vor allem der Tatsache, dass die USA den Kalten Krieg gewonnen haben und nicht die Sowjetunion. Wenn es umgekehrt gelaufen wäre, gäbe es in Berlin heute immer noch Militärparaden, Fahnenappelle und einen Führer, dem niemand ohne Gefahr widerspricht.

(I'm grateful that Hitler lost the war and that I'm not living under the Nazis. But I'm also thankful that the Soviet Union was not the only victor of the war.  If Stalin had won by himself all of Europe would have been transformed into a gigantic prison. The Red Army freed the survivors of the concentration camps; then the camps were filled with new inmates, many of whom were innocent and many died. Hitler's demise was a liberation. Then, in the Soviet-occupied part of Europe there began a new system of oppression. Germany is today a free country thanks to the fact that the US won the Cold War instead of the Soviet Union. If the opposite had happened, we'd still have military parades today in Berlin, with flag ceremonies and a Führer that no one could criticize without putting oneself in danger.)

Comments

[André]

Auch als Schweizer bin ich dankbar dafür, dass nicht die Sowjetunion der alleinige Sieger des Krieges gewesen ist...

[koogleschreiber]

Would Hitler have dared to invade Poland without the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact? Probably not, he didn't want to theatres of war, one in the east and one in the west. Also, the British and French guarantees for Poland didn't include any Soviet aggression, as it seems. All in all, the Soviet Union not only was one of the winners of World War 2, but also one of the beginners. Their invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939 must not be forgotten.