Today is the 66th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.
Over 71,700 American, British, Canadian, Belgian, New Zealander, Free-French, Czech, Greek, Dutch, Polish, Australian, and Norwegian troops died less than two and a half months of slugging it out in the French bocage country.
Not a single Soviet soldier, sailor or airman participated in Operation Overlord.
Yet today in the sleepy Virginia town of Bedford, a memorial to the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe will unveil statues of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Harry Truman.
And Soviet dictator and mass murderer Joseph Stalin.
Uncle Joe, Friend To The Common Man
It's conservatively estimated that during Joseph Stalin's reign of terror, tens of million of Russians as well as other ethnic groups were slaughtered at the hand of Stalin.
Also, at Stalin's order, millions of the following peoples were deported completely or partially: Ukrainians, Poles, Koreans, Volga Germans, Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Kulaks, Karachays, Meskhetian Turks, Finns, Bulgarians, Greeks, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, and Jews.
It is conservatively estimated that most died during Stalin's bloody forced relocations.
And The Others At Normandy?
Although sons of their respective nations fought and died on the beaches of Normandy, the Bedford Memorial has no statues of Canadian Prime Minister William King, King Leopold III of Belgium, Prime Minister of New Zealand Peter Fraser, Gen. Charles DeGaulle of France, Czech President Dr. Emil Hacha, King George II of Greece, Queen Wilhelmina of Holland, Polish leader Edward Smigly-Rydz, Australian Prime Minister John Curtin, or King Haakon VII of Norway.
But Joseph Stalin is there.
It is interesting to note that there is no statue of Allied leader Chiang Kai-Shek at the Bedford Memorial, who, like Stalin, had no connection whatsoever to Operation Overlord.
Yet the powers-to-be in Bedford saw fit to include Comrade Stalin.
Truthin' It Down South
Dr. Lee Edwards, a Distinguished Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation has released the following statement:
"Since the fall of the Soviet Union, statues of Joseph Stalin have been torn down all over Europe and even in the former Soviet Union itself. The world is closer than ever before to a consensus on the evils of communism and Stalin's primary role in the worst crimes of the last century. And yet a statue of Stalin is included in the National D-Day Memorial, to be dedicated in Bedford, Virginia, this Sunday, June 6.
Near the statue of Stalin, a plaque catalogues Stalin's crimes against millions of people both in Russia and throughout Europe. But no mere plaque can justify the inclusion of the statue which dishonors the heroic individuals who sacrificed so much on D-Day and in the Cold War.
A bust of Joseph Stalin has no place in a memorial whose purpose is to salute the brave soldiers who made D-Day a vital victory in the crusade for freedom."
Comments
What idiot gave the go ahead on Stalin's bust?
Perhaps the author should replace Emil Hácha (nominal leader of the German-occupied protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia) with Edvard Beneš (head of the wartime London-based Czechoslovak government-in-exile).
In VIRGINIA? Have they lost their minds? If this isn't removed ASAP they'll probably try to shoehorn in Mao, who's already appeared at the president's residence on the white house "Christmas" tree.
Bedford, Virginia, your ignorance about historical fact is showing on a very, very large, world stage right now--I'd cover up if I were you!
A bust of Stalin?!--The idiot that was in charge of THAT genius decision needs to be fired--Maybe some time at home will give them a chance to crack open any high-school level history book and do a little reading.
Not only does this memorial show stupidity, it is highly offensive to many people and nations, on a global scale.
Scum is rising.
Is it a price for "resetting" relationship with Putin's Russia?
IS THIS STILL AMERICA???
I cannot describe the degree of my outrage at such a folly of erecting a bust of a sadistic despot who was primarily responsible for the perishing of no less than 30 million people, among them my people, the Crimean Tatars. I know my disgust is shared by tens of thousands of Crimean Tatar Americans living in this country.
Is anyone still wondering whether our White House and Justice Dept, have been taken over by New Left Communists? The hand-writing is everywhere. We had better wake up. The "New" Democrats have enabled a pack of radicals to take over the wealth of our country, slowly remove our freedoms, and sneak about foisting their poison. The takeover is being done without a shot being fired. Use and abuse "The System", and Lie, Lie, Lie!
Well.. first - regarding the mass deportations: "Kulaks" are not people, at least no more than cowboys.
Second, At the time of the D-Day Stalin was the leader of one of the 3 major Allied Nations. This is a historical fact regardless of what you may think of his dictatorial methods. The solders who died on the beaches on D-Day knew Stalin as an Allied leader.
I personally have no love lost for the dictator - I have family who perished in gulags.
George, so what did stalin have to do with Operation Overlord? As I've already pointed out, Chiang Kai-Shek was a major allied leader... but no bust of him in Bedford? As far as the Kulaks not being a people, tell that to the Kulaks murdered by Uncle Joe. For the purposes of listing the ethnic/cultural minorities slaughtered by the Communists, listing the Kulaks is appropriate.
Instead of putting Stalin in the memorial park, make a separate park for the most evil of mankind, that would be a fitting place for him.
Just one thing. If the Soviet army does not fight with 75% of the German army, there wouldn't be a landing in Normandy.
But I would put there a statue of a russian soldier, not Dzhugashvili.
we are honoring "evil" and dishonoring "good" at every turn. things better change, and quick, or no, this will not be America any longer. God will not save us if we will not save ourselves!!
He even seems to have a smug expression, like he is proud of his carnage. someone needs to go over there with a sledgehammer.
There's a lot of ignorance on this thread.
A memorial for WW2 should be celebrated with souls who sacrificed for the greater good. Stalin did no such thing. He was an ally but he was only an ally of necessity and mutual survival. Not out of honor or principle or choice. Rather a lack of options.
We aren't being taken over by the 'new democrats.' First of all, if you subscribe to the left/right charade, you're mistaken by default. You don't think for yourself and blame this country's problems on one party. George Bush is equally inept and wrong as Barack Obama. They both support the inflation and the Federal Reserve, they both support the Patriot Act and disregard Civil liberties and they both support the same Foreign Policy. You're a piece of poop and useless just like the biased, partisan lunatics on the other side. Both of you more ons do not know what it means to be an American.
Giovanni,
A "piece of poop"? So much for credibility. Maturity is out of the question.
Hell, there's other places, starting with UC, Berkeley.
Thanks to Giovanni and others who posted on this thread in an (apparently, vain) attempt to educate the uneducable. Why are so many so willfully ignorant of history? There would be a good many Americans who would not be alive today -- or even ever born -- were it not for the brave Soviet efforts before, during, and after D-Day. SO WHAT if they were not at Normandy? They were saving OUR ASSES from MOST of the German army and dropping like flies in the process. SHAME on ignorant uhmuricuns -- which apparently are the VAST majority. I am a historian by trade and have studied Russian/Soviet AND American history for many years. Those of you who have not need to BACK OFF and STFUp. And if your pea brains are able, at least TRY to read and comprehend history.
Athena,
Allow me to ask just a few simple questions.
1. Was the memorial for the Normandy invasion or not?
2. Name just one Soviet soldier involved in the Normandy invasion. Just one. I dare you.
3. Was Joseph Stalin a mass murderer or not?
Needless to say, you won't answer any of my painfully simple questions, so I strongly advise you to STFU.
Kevin, what do you know of history? What is your training? Where did you study?
To answer your questions:
1. The memorial is to honor D-Day, the events taking place on Normandy beaches, on the home front, and anywhere else the allies were receiving support (including the Eastern front).
2.Georgi Constantinovich Zhukov, and the many thousands under his command that day, on the Eastern front. The bust in Bedford portrays Stalin. He was in Moscow that day. Where was FDR? His bust is displayed as well.
3. Yes.
None of your questions have the slightest thing to do with the appropriateness of the Stalin bust at the D-Day memorial. You clearly know nothing of history and should cease the rabble-rousing and misinformation.
Athena,
One of my degrees is in history, but I digress -- the way you tap danced around answering my painfully simple questions only prove that you are either -
a. A fraud.
b. Irreversably stupid.
c. Both.
I'll go with C.
The memorial was in regards to the Normandy invasion, no Russians. Can you comprehend that? I doubt it. BTW, no pithy comments from you how stalin was once allied with hitler?
FDR was the leader of MOST of the troops involved with the Normandy invasion (unlike Uncle Joe... can you figure that out? I doubt it.)
You give a rather sheepish "yes" in regards to stalin being a mass murderer. No alligator tears from you for the tens of millions of innocent people he slaughtered? I guess you missed that day in your *I Love Stalin 101* class, huh?
Kevin, what do you know of history? What is your training? Where did you study?
To answer your questions:
1. The memorial is to honor D-Day, the events taking place on Normandy beaches, on the home front, and anywhere else the allies were receiving support (including the Eastern front).
2.Georgi Constantinovich Zhukov, and the many thousands under his command that day, on the Eastern front. The bust in Bedford portrays Stalin. He was in Moscow that day. Where was FDR? His bust is displayed as well.
3. Yes.
None of your questions have the slightest thing to do with the appropriateness of the Stalin bust at the D-Day memorial. You clearly know nothing of history and should cease the rabble-rousing and misinformation.
Kevin, clearly you are a liar, as well as profoundly stupid. No one who has studied Russian, American, or any history would make such statements. P'shal na hui :)
Pakka, duraki!
Athena,
Prove anything I've said to be false. I dare you. You can't... you're a fraud, and the whole world sees it.
But I thank you for constantly coming back to my page. Every time you do, you put more money in my pocket. Thanks!!
I am by far no supporter of Stalin and often make reference to his atrocities. However, militarily his part is not small. Just as Stalin needed the Western Allies to open the western front so did we need Germany distracted with the Eastern front. To say that Germany was a formidable opponent is a gross understatement. Without the Eastern front, it is very possible that D-Day may have failed. The absence of over half the German army was the very presence of Stalin on D-Day. I am not saying that I would put up any statue of Stalin, but there is some reasoning behind the statue.
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