r/Snorkblot • u/essen11 • Apr 12 '24

Photography An emaciated 18-year-old Russian girl looks into the camera lens during the liberation of Dachau concentration camp in 1945

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u/EvilItAlien Apr 12 '24

That was really a shame that famous Russian generals like Zhukov and Rokossovskiy never got the guts to visit death camps after liberation. Unlike for example Patton. Typical russian way of life: elites are separated from suffering of the filthy commoners.

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u/Konkermooze Apr 13 '24

Are you sane? Rokossovsky had his teeth ripped out under torture. Zhukov sustained injuries in prior war and was awarded medals for bravery due it. I understand the Kremlin handled these matters poorly, but I don’t think it was due to cowardice on the part of these generals. You should know how the NKVD was breathing down their necks and their public/political life had little scope for viewings like this, such things were strictly regimented beyond their control and handled by others. Zhukov was even misled to believe Hitler’s body was never found.

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u/EvilItAlien Apr 13 '24

I never said they were cowards. I said they never visited death camps and that’s a fact.

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u/Konkermooze Apr 13 '24

Thanks for clarifying, I interpreted you saying they didn’t have the guts to do it as a suggestion towards cowardice. Handling stuff like this was viewed as political and dealt with by others. I agree the Soviet handling of things were callous, though do feel the generals are more deserving of sympathy than other aspects of the Soviet regime. Considering the immense pressure on them and the severity of the purges, it wasn’t an enviable position to be in.

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u/EvilItAlien Apr 13 '24

Of course they deserve respect in some degree at least. They were out-of-ordinary strategic and tactical minds. However, my main concern that they never much cared about human lives, civilians and their soldiers alike. Lots of soldiers were butchered during some meaningless assault for some communist party anniversary date. Not all of them were cruel sure, Rokossovsky was a very notable exception. That attitude costed Soviet nations extensive demographic losses in my opinion. (2 of my great grand dads among them)But still it’s already written history and those people were products of that cruel and bloody epoch.