The Soviet Story
Soviet Shadows
The Soviet Story – 2008 | Edvīns Šnore
The Soviet Story is a 2008 documentary film about Soviet communism and Soviet–German collaboration before 1941.
Written and directed by Edvīns Šnore and sponsored by the Union for Europe of the Nations group in the European Parliament. The film features interviews with western and Russian historians such as Norman Davies and Boris Sokolov, the Russian writer Viktor Suvorov, the Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, members of the European Parliament and participants and survivors of the Soviet terror.
Using those interviews, together with historical footage and documents, the film argues that there were close philosophical, political and organisational connections between the Nazi and the Soviet systems. It highlights the Great Purge, the Great Famine, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Katyn massacre, the Gestapo–NKVD collaboration, the Soviet mass deportations and the gulags’ medical experiments. The documentary goes on to argue that the successor states to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union differ in the sense that postwar Germany condemns the actions of Nazi Germany, but the opinion in contemporary Russia is summarised by this quote from Vladimir Putin:
“One needs to acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”.
Vladimir Putin
Content Overview
The documentary presents a controversial narrative that emphasises the ideological and operational parallels between the Soviet regime and Nazi Germany. Key themes include:
- The Great Purge: A campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union.
- Holodomor: The man-made famine in Ukraine that resulted in millions of deaths.
- Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact: The non-aggression treaty between the two powers.
- Katyn Massacre: The execution of Polish officers by the Soviet NKVD.
- Gestapo-NKVD Collaboration: The cooperation between Nazi Germany’s secret police and the Soviet secret police in the persecution of political opponents and Jews.
- Medical Experiments in Gulags: Inhumane medical practices conducted on prisoners in Soviet labor camps.
The film argues that the Soviet Union’s actions during its regime were comparable to those of Nazi Germany, highlighting the shared ideologies of totalitarianism and state-sponsored terror. It concludes with a stark reminder of the estimated 20 million deaths attributed to the Soviet regime, dedicating the film to these victims.
Sources and links
Source: The Soviet Story
Source: The Soviet Story – Wikipedia
Mirror: The Soviet Story (2008)
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