I've been reading through several general WWII books, and it is astounding how many of these authors go out of their way to paint Soviet leadership as one part bumbling infants and one part self-sabotaging ruthless psychopaths. Often to the effect that Nazis come off as far more rational, clearheaded, 'pure' of motive, and even, hilariously, less anti-semitic than a Soviet populace defending its homeland from incomprehensible brutality.
Here are a few examples from The Second World War by Anthony Beevor - a supposed Marxist historian if you listen to :reddit-logo::
The Nazis' murderous intentions were unexpectedly helped by a curious by-product of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Stalinist censorship had stifled any hint of Hitler's virulent anti-semitism. As a result, when the Jews in Kiev where ordered to report for 'resettlement', no fewer than 33,771 turned up as instructed. The [German] Sixth Army . . . expected no more than 7,000 to appear.
I hope that those numbers were properly accounted for in the Black Book of Communism!
Stalin had no feelings for civilians. On hearing that the Germans had forced old men and women, mothers and children forward as human shields . . . he sent orders that they were to be shot down.
Stalin bad.
After Minsk began to burn . . . already there were large numbers of war orphans, children whose parents had been killed or lost in the confusion. Suspecting that some of them were used for spying by the Germans, the NKVD [Soviet Interior Ministry] treated them with little compassion.
I swear I heard from somewhere that Beevor has ties to some CIA cutout or other. All I could find from a google search is that he's done Radio Free Europe interviews and his books are banned in Russia and Ukraine.
Anyways, does anyone have any recommendations for books that cover WWII from the Soviet perspective?