Key Messages
Uncovering The Horrors Committed By Stalin And Hitler In Europe’S ‘Bloodlands’
World War II saw millions of innocent people suffer and die beneath the heel of Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union.
Caught between these hostile forces in modern-day Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states were an untold number of victims facing dire threats from both sides.
In Bloodlands Book Summary, readers are exposed to the chilling realities of what happened to those caught in this deadly crossfire.
From Stalin’s brutal policies that deliberately starved millions of his citizens to the resistance fighters who were shot by the Soviets for opposing Nazi rule, no stone is left unturned.
This powerful book gives an intimate look into how pre-war Poland was a radically different place than its post-war state as well as a heartbreaking insight into the human cost of this devastating conflict.
Learning about what happened to those caught between Germany and Russia during World War II is a painful but necessary step towards honoring their memory.
The Disaster Of 1933: Stalin’S Disastrous Collectivization Plan Led To Millions Of Deaths In Eastern Europe
In 1933, Joseph Stalin completed a five-year economic plan to industrialize the Soviet Union- and part of this plan was the collectivization of farms.
This policy required that individual farmers leave their small holdings and join collective farms to work together in an effort to make agriculture more efficient.
However, this change had drastic consequences.
Not only were farm machinery outdated, but winter that year had been especially rough – leaving farmers unable to meet quotas set by the government.
In addition, Stalin required that all grain and livestock taken away from private farmers be handed over to the state – leaving hungry peasants with nothing left to eat.
This forced farm collectivization resulted in mass starvation across Soviet Union, particularly in Ukraine.
By the end of 1933 it is estimated that around 5.5 million people had died from hunger, with 3.3 million dying just within Ukraine alone due to this devastating policy under Stalin’s rule.
Stalin’S Oppression Of Soviet Minorities Fern Hegemony And Brutal Repression In The Bloodlands
Stalin led a brutal campaign against minority groups, including Polish and other ethnic minorities in Soviet Russia.
As part of Stalin’s paranoia towards potential uprisings and his fear of being overthrown, he targeted individuals labeled as “class enemies”, mainly affluent farmers known as kulaks.
Through dekulakization between 1929 and 1932, about 380,000 people were sentenced to death.
Polish minorities living in the western territories of Soviet Russia also faced extreme persecution.
To discredit this potentially powerful minority during the famine in 1933, Stalin blamed it on the Poles and executed an estimated 85,000 people between 1937-1938.
Other ethnic minorities like Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians were also persecuted en masse; 274,000 people were killed in various waves throughout the early 1930s.
Clearly life was not easy for those living in the bloodlands before WWII broke out, as they faced incredible suffering under Stalin’s rule.
The Start Of Poland’S Defenseless Suffering: Nazi Germany And Soviet Union’S Unlawful Pact To Invade Poland In 1939
Hitler and Stalin made a pact to invade Poland, which resulted in drastic consequences for the people living there.
On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany initiated a unprovoked attack on Poland with no warning, leaving the nation helpless as France and Britain failed to respond.
The Polish people suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazis who considered them subhuman.
In fear of Germany’s advance from the west side of the country, Poles desperately fled towards the east.
Unfortunately, it was too late; on September 17, 1940, hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers invaded their eastern side as well due to Stalin’s pre-agreement with Hitler.
Not only did these invasions neglect international law but Soviet soldiers also joined in on mistreating Polish nationals as they saw no problem in taking what remained of a dismantled state.
During this period many helpless civilians were slaughtered or attacked by both powerful forces which provokes an unimaginable amount of anguish for innocent people who were just trying to survive.
The Nazis And Soviets Both Inflicted Horrors On Occupied Poland: Stalin’S Nkvd Was Especially Feared For Its Brutal Tactics Of Suppression
The Soviet Union worked hard to stomp out the Polish resistance and sent in secret agents to identify any potential fighters.
Agents of the NKVD, the Soviet Union’s secret service, fanned out across eastern Poland with the goal of absorbing it quickly into the Soviet Union.
Targetted professions were seen as dangerous and so were dealt with swiftly as they were believed to be a potential source of opposition; veterans, foresters, civil servants and policemen being among those rounded up.
Stalin had over 14,000 people arrested in February 1940 and forced them onto freight trains bound for harsh labor settlements in Kazakhstan or Siberia.
Further deportations took place and many people perished from the severity of their travel conditions alone with an estimated 50,000 lives lost.
Furthermore, members of Nazi Germany’s system of suppression were seen as an even greater threat with educated Poles facing particular persecution and 97% of prisoners at Soviet labor camps being educated Poles for example.
With a wide scale surveillance network in operation, Stalin managed to severely crush this intellectual class and other “dangers” he felt warranted action thus removing any hopes these opposition groups had to mobilize against authorities.
Hitler Instigated A Reign Of Terror In Nazi-Occupied Poland By Killing The Educated Classes And Jews
Germany under Hitler’s rule had one goal in mind – to create a war empire.
To do this, he added 20 million Poles, 6 million Czechs and 2 million Jews to Nazi Germany.
He wanted to deport the ethnic minorities from occupied territories.
In order to further control the minority groups, he issued regulations that humiliated them.
Requiring Jews to wear yellow stars for identification was just the start.
They were forced into overcrowded ghettos with little food or personal possessions, leading to dismal health conditions that lead to the death of 60,000 in Warsaw alone.
Furthermore, Poland elites were sentenced to death if they were considered dangerous by Hitler.
The Nazi also didn’t forget anyone politically active as part of their plans against these minorities.
All of this only reinforced what they believed; that ethnic minorities in occupied regions were subhuman and should be treated as such.
The Reality Of Nazi Oppression In Stalin’S Soviet Union: Millions Of Lives Lost To Starvation And Execution
When the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, they had little pity for the civilians in their path.
Their goal was to establish a new living space for the German race and to do this, they needed to expel or exterminate any inhabitants of the east that got in their way.
They seized food supplies and clothing and left populations starving.
In Leningrad alone, some 3.5 million people were subject to the “hunger siege” and almost 1 million of these lost their lives from malnutrition.
Red Army soldiers were forced into concentration camps and over 57% of them succumbed to death as a result.
It was clear that Nazi Germany was not sorry for its actions; it continued with its forced starvation policy which resulted in millions of deaths during the war period.
The Nazis showed no mercy as they let civilians freeze and starve in conquered territories – all in order to gain what they saw as a natural right: lebensraum or living space for their own race.
How Forced Labor Helped Nazi Germany Continue Its Reign Of Terror In Occupied Territories
Nazi Germany began to turn to desperate measures as their initial push against the Soviet Union stalled out.
By fall of 1941, a Blitzkrieg offensive had yet to bring about victory and German troops were taking on considerable losses.
Desperate for manpower, Hitler and his officers began recruiting 1 million men from the conquered territories into forced labor.
German soldiers turned to these prisoners-of-war camps for a source of labor for their war machine and even used some of them in a military role, such as digging trenches that became mass graves for executed Jews or serving as police or guards in concentration camps.
The Nazi’s hope was that by tapping into this massive pool of laborers, they could maintain their offensive until total victory was guaranteed; however, the Jewish populations in these regions were not shown any sort of mercy.
The Nazi Final Solution: From Deportation To Mass Extermination
At the start of Nazi Germany’s occupation, the plan concerning their Jewish population was to forcibly deport all Jews from the newly expanded German Reich.
The idea gradually evolved into something far more sinister as time went by – a “final solution” of mass extermination instead.
Since Lublin (the Polish region earmarked for potential deportation) was too close to areas where ethnic Germans lived, it had to be rejected as a viable option.
Hitler even tried seeking Stalin’s help in transferring Jews living in German-occupied territories, but the Soviet Union leader ultimately refused.
By 1942, Jews under German rule were already placed in ghettos and concentration camps in western regions of the Reich.
To make matters worse, Nazi forces started building huge facilities in occupied Poland that were dedicated solely to exterminating Jewish people.
Objecting To Nazi Occupation Was A Dangerous Choice For Those In The Bloodlands, As Jewish Uprisings Were Brutally Suppressed With Little Chance Of Success
In the Bloodlands, resisting German occupation was nearly impossible.
People living in these territories were already trapped between two powerful forces–Germany and the Soviet Union–before the war even began.
Many felt that any kind of uprising would only result in strengthening one of these two countries at their own expense, so they chose to endure instead of risk their lives fighting an unwinnable battle.
Jews in particular had it hard when it came to resistance.
Oftentimes tightly monitored and controlled, it was difficult for them to build a movement without risking severe punishment or death.
Those who opted to fight despite the odds were harshyly suppressed with soldiers being ordered to not discriminate between partisans and civilians during uprisings resulting in countless civilian deaths.
The Jews of Warsaw who risked an uprising against the Nazis in 1943 met a devastating response from Heinrich Himmler–the man most responsible for the policies of the Holocaust–in which 13,000 Jewish people were killed and 50,000 survivors were sent away to concentration camps.
Stalin’S Views On Partisans Highlighted Soviet Oppression Of Otherwise Loyal Individuals
As the Red Army made gains against the German forces, it became clear that Soviets under Stalin’s orders were not looking to be saviors, despite some partisans hoping they would be.
Instead of a policy of independence, Stalin wanted to annex new territories for Soviet Union.
Resistance was a daunting task early on in the war with German forces had superior numbers and firepower.
Yet as the war stretched along and the Red Army marched west, many partisans saw their chance for freedom– even if it meant parting ways with information.
Unfortunately, in return for this information all they got was encouragement from theSoviets to fight but never any outright aid or assistance.
Stalin saw any partisan– including those who collaborated with Nazis– as potential threats and believed that anyone who resisted one occupation could very well resist another one later on.
This was made evident when Polish Home Army attackedGerman troops in Warsaw in the year 1944; while nearby Red Army didn’t intervene, nearly half a million Poles died there.
Those who survived were arrested and disarmed by Russians soon after their arrival.
The Dark Legacy Of The Red Army’S War On Germany In 1945
At the end of World War II, the Allies agreed to confine post-war Germany to a small area in the middle of Europe and relocate all Germans living abroad back there.
So when the Red Army entered German territory from the east, they sought vengeance against civilians and did not take prisoners.
The Soviets even released roughly 1 million of their own prisoners to serve as soldiers on this march to Berlin.
Not only did they commit crimes against Poles and Hungarians, but German women also suffered considerable abuse, with rape common regardless of age.
Any attempts by Germany men to protect them often led to beatings or murder.
In addition to these crimes committed by Soviet troops along their march, when they reached Germany’s original borders at war’s end, those still living in territories that the Reich had lost were forcibly removed from their homes and either abused or deported.
About 3.8 million Germans were affected by this order, and many perished due to hunger or illness during the journey in overcrowded trains.
Approximately 400,000 people lost their lives during deportation alone.
The Legacy Of Stalinist Terror: Forced Deportations In Post-War Bloodlands
Thousands of people tragically lost their lives during the post-World War II deportations.
After Nazi Germany’s surrender on May 8, 1945, Stalin used the opportunity to expand the Soviet Union’s reach by annexing Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia as well as Eastern Poland.
Furthermore, at the Potsdam Conference later that year, Allied powers gave Stalin permission to move Poland’s western borders eastward in order to cede control of eastern Poland to the Soviets.
Stalin then enforced a series of large-scale deportations in these newly annexed territories in order to create a more homogeneous society free from potential dissenters.
Anyone suspected of being rebellious was rounded up and deported to Siberia – resulting in a death toll of 700,000 Germans, 150,000 Poles, 250,000 Ukrainians and 300,000 Soviets citizens amongst others.
Wrap Up
Bloodlands is a deeply harrowing book that brings to light the terrible atrocities committed by both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia during World War II in the bloodlands of Eastern Europe.
Millions of people were killed or displaced as these two warring powers invaded and subjugated local populations, providing no hope for those who suffered.
Nevertheless, many endured and survived, even in such a dark time.
This book serves as a poignant reminder of the anguish and suffering endured by so many during World War II.
It is a reminder of how important it is to remember this past, so that we may learn from it to create a better future for all.
