Why no accountability for Soviet war crimes

[pinjarra]

Much has been written about German war atrocities, but nothing about what the soviets did during WW2 not only to German POWs but to the Jews and other minority groups as well. Was it a matter of well who cares, we the Allies won the war and what does it matter that the soviets inflicted so much cruel brutality.
Very one sided accountability and lack of international law application, even by the ICRC.

[wm]

At that time, prosecution of war criminals was entirely voluntary; judgment and punishment were at the victor's discretion.

I even doubt if international law allowed you to prosecute war crimes if you weren't the injured party.

[gebhk]

The reasons for the Soviets to avoid making an issue of it are obvious.

The reasons for the Wallies to avoid making an issue of it are equally clear - having presented the defeat of Nazism as a moral crusade to their electorates, it would have been very uncomfortable to explain why they were allied with and supporting an equally murderous regime. This was particularly true of the US and the US was in the driving seat in the Western part of the alliance. More awkward still, the Soviet regime was responsible for very similar crimes to the Nazi ones against the country the Wallies (nominally at least), went to war to protect. And, finally, even if they did decide to tackle the matter, there was no way short of starting another war for which no one had an appeatite, of forcing the issue.

And, of course, there was no international body or even a legal framework to pick up this matter on behalf of humanity as a whole.

[pinjarra]

Seems to be the same as what is happening in the Ukraine now and Putin has been declared a war criminal, so where to from here, probably nothing, and he knows it and continues the unlawful aggressive invasion and war where innocent civilians are killed or wounded daily.

[ljadw]

Much has been written about German war atrocities, but nothing about what the soviets did during WW2 not only to German POWs but to the Jews and other minority groups as well. Was it a matter of well who cares, we the Allies won the war and what does it matter that the soviets inflicted so much cruel brutality.
Very one sided accountability and lack of international law application, even by the ICRC.

The Soviets were the winners and winners are not held responsible for their war crimes .

[ShindenKai]

Much has been written about German war atrocities, but nothing about what the soviets did during WW2 not only to German POWs but to the Jews and other minority groups as well. Was it a matter of well who cares, we the Allies won the war and what does it matter that the soviets inflicted so much cruel brutality.
Very one sided accountability and lack of international law application, even by the ICRC.

The Soviets were the winners and winners are not held responsible for their war crimes .

^Bingo! -The U.S.A. should never have helped the USSR, should've just let Germany & the Soviets beat each to death and then crushed the victor. DONE. The "spread of communism" would've been crushed. A world at truly at peace and free.

[ljadw]

Much has been written about German war atrocities, but nothing about what the soviets did during WW2 not only to German POWs but to the Jews and other minority groups as well. Was it a matter of well who cares, we the Allies won the war and what does it matter that the soviets inflicted so much cruel brutality.
Very one sided accountability and lack of international law application, even by the ICRC.

The Soviets were the winners and winners are not held responsible for their war crimes .

^Bingo! -The U.S.A. should never have helped the USSR, should've just let Germany & the Soviets beat each to death and then crushed the victor. DONE. The "spread of communism" would've been crushed. A world at truly at peace and free.

There was no serious spread of communism ,except in the eyes of the inventors of the Cold War .
And before Communism ruled the USSR in 1917 and also after the fall of Communism,the world was not at peace and free .
Besides : what is free ?
And , why should it be good for the US if the world was at peace and free ?
A world at peace and free is a myth and will never exist .Most people prefer material benefits to freedom . You can,t feed your children with freedom .

[Berto]

Much has been written about German war atrocities, but nothing about what the soviets did during WW2 not only to German POWs but to the Jews and other minority groups as well. Was it a matter of well who cares, we the Allies won the war and what does it matter that the soviets inflicted so much cruel brutality.
Very one sided accountability and lack of international law application, even by the ICRC.

Are you kidding? A lot has been written on Soviet crimes, if anything they have been magnified in 'popular history', especially thanks to the Cold War. Plenty of people think that the survival rate of Stalingrad POWs is a good example of the overall survival rate of German POWs in Soviet hands, that Stalin killed more people than Hitler, that all freed Soviet POWs were executed or sent to Gulag for allowing themselves to be captured, and other nonsense of this kind...

Western Allied war crimes (whose scale was not comparable to the Soviets, admittedly) were also seldom, if ever, punished. That's what happens with war crimes committed by the victors in just about every war. Welcome to the world, it's a fairly dreadful place.

^Bingo! -The U.S.A. should never have helped the USSR, should've just let Germany & the Soviets beat each to death and then crushed the victor. DONE. The "spread of communism" would've been crushed. A world at truly at peace and free.

That's an incredibly naive opinion, to be kind. Good luck crushing the Soviet Union, by the way.

[ShindenKai]

Much has been written about German war atrocities, but nothing about what the soviets did during WW2 not only to German POWs but to the Jews and other minority groups as well. Was it a matter of well who cares, we the Allies won the war and what does it matter that the soviets inflicted so much cruel brutality.
Very one sided accountability and lack of international law application, even by the ICRC.

Are you kidding? A lot has been written on Soviet crimes, if anything they have been magnified in 'popular history', especially thanks to the Cold War. Plenty of people think that the survival rate of Stalingrad POWs is a good example of the overall survival rate of German POWs in Soviet hands, that Stalin killed more people than Hitler, that all freed Soviet POWs were executed or sent to Gulag for allowing themselves to be captured, and other nonsense of this kind...

Western Allied war crimes (whose scale was not comparable to the Soviets, admittedly) were also seldom, if ever, punished. That's what happens with war crimes committed by the victors in just about every war. Welcome to the world, it's a fairly dreadful place.

^Bingo! -The U.S.A. should never have helped the USSR, should've just let Germany & the Soviets beat each to death and then crushed the victor. DONE. The "spread of communism" would've been crushed. A world at truly at peace and free.

That's an incredibly naive opinion, to be kind. Good luck crushing the Soviet Union, by the way.

Incredibly naive?! Apparently you've completely forgotten the THOUSANDS of vehicles and aircraft and much more that was "Lend-Leased" to the Soviets!

https://ru.usembassy.gov/world-war-ii-a ... 1941-1945/

400,000 jeeps & trucks
14,000 airplanes
8,000 tractors
13,000 tanks
1.5 million blankets
15 million pairs of army boots
107,000 tons of cotton
2.7 million tons of petrol products
4.5 million tons of food

Yes, we (the USA) should've and absolutely could've CRUSHED THE COMMIE SCUM.

[ljadw]

To give these old figures out of context,proves nothing . Example :what is the value of 2.7 million of petrol products compared to the Soviet oil production during the war which was some 100 million tons,the same for the LL food which was meaningless compared to the Soviet food production : the LL food meant 10 kg food for every Soviet citizen for each war year .One should also not exaggerate the importance of trucks and jeeps for a war in a country without decent roads .
And why should the US have crushed the Soviets ?And when ? And how ? By nuking 180 million people ?

[Berto]

Much has been written about German war atrocities, but nothing about what the soviets did during WW2 not only to German POWs but to the Jews and other minority groups as well. Was it a matter of well who cares, we the Allies won the war and what does it matter that the soviets inflicted so much cruel brutality.
Very one sided accountability and lack of international law application, even by the ICRC.

Are you kidding? A lot has been written on Soviet crimes, if anything they have been magnified in 'popular history', especially thanks to the Cold War. Plenty of people think that the survival rate of Stalingrad POWs is a good example of the overall survival rate of German POWs in Soviet hands, that Stalin killed more people than Hitler, that all freed Soviet POWs were executed or sent to Gulag for allowing themselves to be captured, and other nonsense of this kind...

Western Allied war crimes (whose scale was not comparable to the Soviets, admittedly) were also seldom, if ever, punished. That's what happens with war crimes committed by the victors in just about every war. Welcome to the world, it's a fairly dreadful place.

^Bingo! -The U.S.A. should never have helped the USSR, should've just let Germany & the Soviets beat each to death and then crushed the victor. DONE. The "spread of communism" would've been crushed. A world at truly at peace and free.

That's an incredibly naive opinion, to be kind. Good luck crushing the Soviet Union, by the way.

Incredibly naive?! Apparently you've completely forgotten the THOUSANDS of vehicles and aircraft and much more that was "Lend-Leased" to the Soviets!

https://ru.usembassy.gov/world-war-ii-a ... 1941-1945/

400,000 jeeps & trucks
14,000 airplanes
8,000 tractors
13,000 tanks
1.5 million blankets
15 million pairs of army boots
107,000 tons of cotton
2.7 million tons of petrol products
4.5 million tons of food

Yes, we (the USA) should've and absolutely could've CRUSHED THE COMMIE SCUM.

I was not expecting a mature reply, and I wasn't disappointed.

Shall we talk about the casualties inflicted on the Germans by the Soviets vs the Americans?

Or the willingness to sustain losses. Not that it's a good thing in itself (at least, I do not consider it to be so), but in a war, it does have its impact. How many millions of American lives would have you been willing to sacrifice to conquer the largest country on Earth? Seems to me a couple of decades later you utterly failed at "crushing the commie scum" in an infinitely smaller country, and chickened out after sustaining infinitely smaller casualties...

[ShindenKai]

The fact that the USA directly propped up the USSR with war material as previously mentioned is EXACTLY why Vietnam happened in the first place. Did you know that 2+2 = 4?

Apparently, you haven't done any reading as to the "rules of engagement" in Vietnam our corrupt politicians/bureaucrat refused to allow our Airforce's to attack enemy supply trains/routes. Many of our pilots have talked about ID'ing SAM missiles and various other supply lines being moved to their various locations and high command not allowing them to be destroyed enroute. You can't win that way. Shocking, right?

How would the USSR have felt if we'd dropped the 3rd A-bomb that we had ready for Japan on them instead?? = Millions of U.S. deaths completely avoided.

[Berto]

Apparently, you haven't done any reading as to the "rules of engagement" in Vietnam our corrupt politicians/bureaucrat refused to allow our Airforce's to attack enemy supply trains/routes. Many of our pilots have talked about ID'ing SAM missiles and various other supply lines being moved to their various locations and high command not allowing them to be destroyed enroute. You can't win that way. Shocking, right?

Ah, the good old Dolchstoß. Always a classic.

How would the USSR have felt if we'd dropped the 3rd A-bomb that we had ready for Japan on them instead??

Who knows? The Russians burned down Moscow themselves the one time it was captured by an invader in the last three centuries. What if your third bomb failed to prompt them to surrender and you'd still have a very angry, populous, immense country to invade?

[Sheldrake]

Much has been written about German war atrocities, but nothing about what the soviets did during WW2 not only to German POWs but to the Jews and other minority groups as well. Was it a matter of well who cares, we the Allies won the war and what does it matter that the soviets inflicted so much cruel brutality.
Very one sided accountability and lack of international law application, even by the ICRC.

That is not entirely true. Try broadening your reading.

Michael Burleigh Moral Combat: A History of World War II Paperback – 3 Mar. 2011
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moral-Combat-H ... 000719577X

Norman Davies: Europe at War 1939-1945: No Simple Victory
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Norman+Dav ... nb_sb_noss

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Kindle Edition
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gulag-Archipel ... C82&sr=1-1

[ljadw]

The fact that the USA directly propped up the USSR with war material as previously mentioned is EXACTLY why Vietnam happened in the first place. Did you know that 2+2 = 4?

Apparently, you haven't done any reading as to the "rules of engagement" in Vietnam our corrupt politicians/bureaucrat refused to allow our Airforce's to attack enemy supply trains/routes. Many of our pilots have talked about ID'ing SAM missiles and various other supply lines being moved to their various locations and high command not allowing them to be destroyed enroute. You can't win that way. Shocking, right?

How would the USSR have felt if we'd dropped the 3rd A-bomb that we had ready for Japan on them instead?? = Millions of U.S. deaths completely avoided.

1 Maybe first prove that a US bomber could fly to Moscow and return
2 What millions of US deaths ?AFAICS there were no millions of US deaths between 1945 and 2023 .
3 There is no relation at all between LL and what happened in Vietnam . Unless I am wrong LL did not include SAM missiles .
4 Are there proofs that the SAM missiles used by NVN were produced by the Soviets ?
5 Why would the Soviets not deliver SAM missiles to a communist country that was fighting against the US ?US were also delivering Stinger missiles to Afghans that fought against the Soviets ,but at the same time the Soviets were buying grain from the US .
6 Have you ever thought to think outside the box and to imagine the consequences for Europe, US and the rest of the world if in 1945 the US nuked Moscow (which could only happen after a DOW by Congress )?
The USSR would not disappear if Moscow was nuked,and whatever the nature of the new regime, we can be certain of one thing ,which is that the population would demand revanche and that revanche would happen .
Between 1945 and 1957 US could nuke Moscow and other cities of the USSR without fearing a Soviet nuclear response for the US during that period, but still the 2 US presidents (Truman and Eisenhower,who both had the same foreign policy ) did not give the order for a nuclear attack and no one will say that they were fellow-travelers .They knew what the consequences would be for Europe and also for the US .Europe would be a nuclear desert and 90 % of its population would die . The situation would not be better in the US .
Both Truman and Eisenhower knew that you can't win a nuclear war .