Russia Glorifies Wehrmacht

Published by

Clarissa

March 30, 2015

Russia is getting ready to celebrate the victory over Nazism 70 years ago. Or not.

In a booklet printed in the annexed Crimea, the following picture was used to glorify the troops that took part in the fighting:

I don’t think you need to be a huge World War II buff to figure out that this guy is not a Soviet soldier. He actually belongs to the troops of Erich von Manstein, the Wehrmacht Field Marshal who invaded the Soviet Crimea.

Here is the booklet with the offending image:

Yes, it’s probably just a mistake. But it is one more among the “Goebbels was such a talented guy” and “when the Nazis occupied Leningrad” kind of mistakes that keep plaguing Russia’s official discourse on WWII. Given that Russia is currently fighting a costly war in Ukraine because Russians supposedly feel that Ukrainians disrespected the memory of the war over Nazism, you’d expect a more careful approach to the issue.

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9 responses to “Russia Glorifies Wehrmacht”

valter07

March 31, 2015

Everyb-a-a-a-dy…
Glorifies someba-a-a-ady…

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AcademicLurker

March 31, 2015

That’s deeply weird. Not that Russians are obliged to still be angry 75 years later, but the Nazis came rolling in determined to enslave or exterminate the whole population, and the killed between 20 and 30 million people.

Of all possible things for Russians to glorify, the Wehrmacht is just about the strangest thing they could have picked.

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1. Clarissa
  
  March 31, 2015
  
  Given that the Russians claim to be so angry about Nazism that they had to invade Ukraine to hunt the specter of non-existent Nazism there, I’d expect them to be more careful.
  
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cliff arroyo

March 31, 2015

“Everybody loves the nazis, sometime,
Everybody loves sieg heil somehow,
Something in your goosestep told me,
My sometime is now….”

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1. AcademicLurker
  
  March 31, 2015
  
  Brilliant.
  
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2. Clarissa
  
  March 31, 2015
  
  I’m guessing this is a parody of some song that everybody but me knows, right? 🙂
  
  Sorry, I’m useless.
  
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  1. Shakti
    
    March 31, 2015
    
    Cliff: This is before my time, but is it this? Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes by Dean Martin
    
    For a minute I thought it was VD is for everybody which is the worst 70s sex ed PSA because it makes VD look totally fun and awesome.
    
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    1. cliff arroyo
      
      March 31, 2015
      
      It is in fact the Deanster (on whom my mother had a major crush, not that that’s here or there).
      
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n8chz

April 3, 2015

Dog whistle messaging.

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