You absolutely never have to hand it to the Red Army
https://twitter.com/JordanUhl/status/1403178538816131072
Here's the thing w/ saying "The Soviets ended the Holocaust:" it implies some kind of intent, perhaps even a valorous one. Did the Soviets liberate many camps? Yes. Was their intent a humanitarian one, such that they cared about ending the Holocaust? No.
There's also the issue of this framing eliding all kinds of Soviet behavior/motivations during the earlier years of the war. There's the problem of Poland, for example. Also the issue of the Soviet Union initially supporting the German economy in a manner that empowered the Nazis
Finally, when we're talking about the Red Army & "liberation," we have to note not just their territorial goals, but also their activities during liberation, such as mass rape. There are even accounts of soldiers raping Holocaust victims who they had just freed.
And then there's also, of course, the issue of treatment of Jews within the Soviet Union. Wasn't great!
So, sure, you can make the technical point that the Soviets liberated the camps. But you have to be careful about what you imply about their motivations. And you have to frame it w/in the context of their many other acts during the war & the post-war period.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
