Azaran on 5/6/2025 at 16:11
A thread for forgotten, neglected, or overlooked historical tidbits.
Nazi Germany and the Soviet union were ultimately enemies, but allied from 1939 to 1941 in a (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact) pact, and even collaborated on repression. Publicly, the agreement was a non-aggression pact, but it was actually designed to split eastern Europe between Germany and the USSR, and eliminate Poland as a nation.
The main outcome of the pact was a reign of terror imposed by both the Germans and the Soviets in their respective halves of Poland, the mass killing of Polish intellectuals and 'dangerous' classes, and mass deportations. The soviet (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre) Katyn massacre , where the Russians killed 22,000 Polish officers, and the Nazi AB Aktion and (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligenzaktion) Intelligezaktion (over 100k executions) took place during this time.
There's no evidence that the operations were coordinated, but the Gestapo and the NKVD (the Soviet SS/Gestapo equivalent) held secret conferences to discuss general plans for terrorizing and subjugating Polish resistance. The Nazis learned a lot from the Soviets during this time, and refined their terror methods that they would later fully unleash during the invasion of the Soviet union. The best example of collusion between the two worst dictatorships in modern history.
During the pact, the soviets also handed over German communists who had taken refuge in Russia to the Gestapo, which must have come as a shocking betrayal to the victims; they were either executed, or sent to camps.
Ironically, when the Nazis later invaded the USSR and discovered the Katyn massacre, they used it as propaganda to show how evil the Soviets were (after having killed over 100k innocent people themselves). The Soviets did the same when they discovered Nazi atrocities.
Nicker on 5/6/2025 at 20:19
Weaponized wadda-bout-ism.
DarkMax on 5/6/2025 at 20:21
Yes
SD on 5/6/2025 at 21:17
Thank goodness we ostracise communists as much as Nazis these days.
Right, guys...? :erm:
taffernicus on 7/6/2025 at 06:55
Schlüsselzusatz SZ42 and Gerhard Schrader: Father of the Nerve Agents. These two pieces of history happened away from public eye & haven't been lauded around the world
another interesting tidbits : Nazi Wotan single beam radar and operation bolivar
taffernicus on 7/6/2025 at 07:04
another one : Mi5 suspicion on siemens staff during 1930s - 40s
taffernicus on 7/6/2025 at 07:19
possibly not related to nazis but first established in the 1930s : rohde and schwarz
There must be a lot of stories behind this company journey
F-16 is equipped with their SDR
Azaran on 7/6/2025 at 14:06
Quote Posted by SD
Thank goodness we ostracise communists as much as Nazis these days.
Right, guys...? :erm:
Communism always gets a pass because at its basic roots, it
claimed to be bringing justice and equality to oppressed peoples, which gave them carte blanche to do all manner of atrocities to supposedly make that happen (and often tried to keep these secret). The Nazis were openly racist and genocidal.
People who still defend communism downplay the crimes, or reframe them as well-meaning mistakes with good intentions :erg:
By the way, Lenin was as evil a dictator as Stalin later became, but he was whitewashed.
Nicker on 7/6/2025 at 14:50
Except that the "Communism" of Stalin was actually structured as State Capitalism, and was in fact, thinly masked Totalitarianism.
"Ism's" is rarely what they actually is.
True Communism has never persisted or even truly existed at the Nation State level, IMO.
Azaran on 7/6/2025 at 15:06
Quote Posted by Nicker
True Communism has never persisted or even truly existed at the Nation State level, IMO.
Absolutely.
Even ignoring all the crimes dont in its name (which come from interpretations of Marx's ideas), one of the main issues with Communism is its reductionist, scorched earth ideals: existing society, human culture, institutions, etc. are all tainted by capitalism and oppression, and so must be destroyed and replaced.
Imagine for a second seeing some (easily repairable) cracks in the walls of your house. You call a handyman to have a look at it, and he tells you to just demolish the entire home, and rebuild it (differently). That, in part, is communism.
