Thread: Hitler vs. Stalin

I wonder what you folks think about Hitler and Stalin.

I think the evil they have done can not be mesuared or counted, neither compared one with the other. Both them were just evil.


I think it is like to aks who is better Jesus or His Father.

You forgot to include Mao Tse-Tung, Pol Pot and Genghis Khan in the list.
All of them are perfect candidates for 'the most evil man' title.

Along with Tomas de Torquemada, Vlad Tepes and Idi Amin.

And....
look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_murder

I know it's hard to compare but I don't know who's more evil, political leaders who introduced terror as the instrument of political rule or individuals who commit mass murders just for the fun of it.

Originally Posted by Ramil

You forgot to include Mao Tse-Tung, Pol Pot and Genghis Khan in the list.
All of them are perfect candidates for 'the most evil man' title.

Along with Tomas de Torquemada, Vlad Tepes and Idi Amin

I just wanted to make a comparison between Hitler and Stalin, both of which played an important role in the 20th century of Russia. I also suspect that Russians do not consider Stalin as evil as Hitler. That's why I posted this poll.

Originally Posted by Ilkay

Originally Posted by Ramil

You forgot to include Mao Tse-Tung, Pol Pot and Genghis Khan in the list.
All of them are perfect candidates for 'the most evil man' title.

Along with Tomas de Torquemada, Vlad Tepes and Idi Amin

I just wanted to make a comparison between Hitler and Stalin, both of which played an important role in the 20th century of Russia. I also suspect that Russians do not consider Stalin as evil as Hitler. That's why I posted this poll.

Oh, that. Well, of course, Hitler is more evil. Stalin was a bloody tyrant but Hitler had managed to outdo him.

I voted for Hitler.

Then I think they are equal.

Both wished to built the nation of ideal people.
Both killed everyone who did not fit their ideals' model.

I don't want to compare. It's akin to delving in all kinds of evil ever existed, and it's really unpleasant to me. Like thinking every time about bad things for them to happen after that.

A bit of humour in a gloomy subject.

Imagine you saw the results torn out of context, what would you think if you saw just this:

Originally Posted by Ramil

A bit of humour in a gloomy subject.

Imagine you saw the results torn out of context, what would you think if you saw just this:

People elect them presidents!

And a bit of homemade philosophy:

Evil can't be measured or compared. Evil is just evil, like a switch yes/no. So it's really impossible to say who is more evil they both are integral parts of evil. They and the like comprise evil. They don't have ranks there in evil empire - they are just bricks. They accumulate and evil grows.

When Stalin died, the entire USSR cried.... It has never happened before, or after Stalin's rule.

Yes, Stalin was truly loved by the people. Well, by some of them anyway.

by some of the ones still left alive. Most probably cried because they were afraid the KGB would come after them if they didn't.

Maybe you could measure evil by the number of human beings killed by each of them?

Originally Posted by Ramil

Yes, Stalin was truly loved by the people. Well, by some of them anyway.

Stalin ruled during the very difficult time: he led people to victory over German invasion. He had to rule with an "iron arm," there were many enemies, and he could not take any chances.

Originally Posted by chaika

by some of the ones still left alive. Most probably cried because they were afraid the KGB would come after them if they didn't.

I think you are wrong. Most of the people loved him wholeheartedly, even many of those who were repressed (they saw it not as Stalin's fault, but as some kind of mistake). There were few of those whom we used to call dissidents.

And don't forget, for common folk Stalin was the leader who reconstructed the country from ashes after the Civil War (there was a huge industrial growth) and who won the recent and most terrible war in which almost every Soviet family lost somebody.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Originally Posted by chaika

by some of the ones still left alive. Most probably cried because they were afraid the KGB would come after them if they didn't.

I think you are wrong. Most of the people loved him wholeheartedly, even many of those who were repressed (they saw it not as Stalin's fault, but as some kind of mistake). There were few of those whom we used to call dissidents.

And don't forget, for common folk Stalin was the leader who reconstructed the country from ashes after the Civil War (there was a huge industrial growth) and who won the recent and most terrible war in which almost every Soviet family lost somebody.

Agree.

Originally Posted by chaika

Most probably cried because they were afraid the KGB would come after them if they didn't.

apparently, that's what happened in Poland, in a way, too. My grandparents told me plenty of people felt obliged to cry, or at least look as depressed as possible, for fear they might get in trouble.
And I bet the trouble in here would be nothing compared to the trouble back in the USSR.

either way, I agree it's pretty darn difficult to measure the evil. Especially since most of the people here, at the boards, is not old enough to remember the reign of Hitler and Stalin, hence it makes it harder to compare. Obviously, we could rely on the books - but they only give you some facts, not the insight into the situation.
Besides, it seems quite useless for me to choose. They both did some pretty messed up stuff - that's undisputable.

and having written all that, I sort of get the feeling I didn't make myself clear enough.

Originally Posted by chaika

by some of the ones still left alive. Most probably cried because they were afraid the KGB would come after them if they didn't.

No, the facts about the atrocities were made known only after his death. Really, my great-grandfather was arrested in 1940 and nobody has seen or heard of him ever since. But still my grandma told me that she too cried when Stalin had died.
When they say about the cult of personality they mean exactly that - the cult. He was godlike in eyes of his subject, something holy and flawless. Khrushev invested a lot of efforts afterwards in destroying that cult in the minds of people but there are still people who justify Stalins' deeds even now.

Maybe you could measure evil by the number of human beings killed by each of them?

So do you say that killing a thousand men is better than killing a million? It's a rotten logic. We have to measure evil sometimes in our lives but we're doing that only to justify our actions. And we shouldn't really if we're doing something bad.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Originally Posted by chaika

by some of the ones still left alive. Most probably cried because they were afraid the KGB would come after them if they didn't.

I think you are wrong. Most of the people loved him wholeheartedly, even many of those who were repressed (they saw it not as Stalin's fault, but as some kind of mistake). There were few of those whom we used to call dissidents.

And don't forget, for common folk Stalin was the leader who reconstructed the country from ashes after the Civil War (there was a huge industrial growth) and who won the recent and most terrible war in which almost every Soviet family lost somebody.

+1

It's said "Stalin took the country with plows and ruins and left it as an industrial superpower with nuclear weapons".