Marina Tellez

Period 1 / Period 4
3/11/16
(Words 1359)
The United States and European Dictators

Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were two of the most horrible dictators the United States

has ever had to face. Joseph Stalin was the communist leader of the Soviet Union until his death

in 1953. Adolf Hitler was the fascist leader of the Nazi party and chancellor of Germany until

1945. Hitler and Stalin were both powerful and ruthless dictators but the US considers Adolf

Hitler a worse dictator than Joseph Stalin because Hitler was an enemy while Stalin was an ally

during World War II, Hitler killed people outside of Germany as Stalin focused on the people of

the Soviet Empire, and Hitler kept record of his killing while Stalin kept his a secret.

One of the reasons the United States considers Adolf Hitler a worse dictator than Joseph

Stalin is because Hitler was an enemy and Stalin was an ally, at a one point. According to the

article German Declaration of War Against the United States On December 11, 1949 Nazi

Germany declared war on the U.S Later that day the U.S declared war on Germany (German)

This shows that Germany was an enemy to the United States. Germany was also one of the

reasons the United States had to stop its neutral policy and join the war. One of his reasons for

declaring war on the U.S was because Japans surprise attack without making a declaration of

war appealed to him (German) This shows that hitler declared war on the United States simply

because he liked the way Japan attacked the United States without declaring war. Stalin, on the

other hand, was both an ally and enemy, joining the Allied Powers after Hitler went back on his

deal of not invading the Soviet Union. Stalin was angered and, in desperate need of allies, joined

the Allied Powers. The Allied Powers with the help of the Soviet Union defeated Germany on

April 25, 1945. The story The Fall of Nazi Germany by Alan Taylor states ...East met west of
the river Elbe on April 25, 1945 when Soviet and American troops met near Torgau, Germany.

Then came the end of the Third Reich, as the Soviets took over Berlin (Taylor). This is evidence

that even though the Soviet Union and United States were enemies they worked together and

defeated Nazi Germany.

Secondly, the United States considers Hitler worse than Stalin is because Hitler killed

outside his nation and Stalin focused on killing the people of the Soviet Empire. Hitler created

labor camps for his prisoners. There was two types of camps, one where anyone who came

would be killed be killed almost immediately after arrival, and the other where some would be

killed or put to work. Hitler created these for jews and other victim groups. The article Forced

Labor: An Overview states ... Nazis began to implement the final solution, the plan to murder all

european Jewry (Forced). This is an example of how Hitler wanted to kill all Jews all over

the world. Hitler didnt only kill Jews, but instead he targeted many other races. One example is

the Polish. Of the 11 million killed in the Holocaust, 6 million were Polish citizens

(Schwartz. The Holocaust). This shows that Hitler was not just racist to jews but also the Polish

and many other races. Stalin killed many innocent people as well, except they were within his

own empire. He killed his own military, and one half of the population was on the NKVD, also

known as Stalins secret police watch list. ... he decapitated his military- eliminating overall

50% of the officers 3,000 spies were also eliminated. At one point one half of the population

was on the NKVD watch lists. (Waddell. Lecture Notes). This shows that Stalin focused on

killing those of the Soviet Empire. Also, since the Soviet Union kept almost everything a secret

from other countries the United States had no idea that Stalin was killing so many. Stalin also

removed any form of religion. Atheism is the official state religion (Waddell. Lecture Notes).
Stalin took religion away from the people and made himself to be considered a God. This is

known as the Cult of the Personality.

Although the United States did not know about Stalins killing, it still is not as bad as

hitlers killings in his concentration camps. The camps hitler made had horrible living conditions

and the prisoners were often worked to death. According to Auschwitz-Birkenau In Auschwitz

prisoners lived in old brick barrack. Seven hundred three-tier wooden bunk beds were installed

in each building. The overcrowding in Auschwitz forced basements and lofts to be used as living

quarters, as well(Auschwitz). Prisoner's did not have a good sleeping environment. They were

forced to sleep on either a wooden or brick bed. This is important because the people worked all

day and had to sleep in a crowded, cold, hard bed. Many probably got back problems and still

had to do hard labor all day. Auschwitz-Birkenau also states that At Auschwitz, labor was one of

the means used to destroy prisoners (Auschwitz). The prisoners in these camps could have

gotten killed for any reason. If a Nazi did not like the way a person did a job they can be beaten

or killed.

Lastly, the United States considers Adolf Hitler a worse dictator than Joseph because

Hitler kept record of his killing and Stalin kept his a secret. Jewish Concentration Camps states

that Camp officials kept records of Jews who were used for slave labor (Jewish) This means

that Hitler had his officials at camps keep records of all his slaves. Although Stalin killed many

of his people, they were not used at slaves. At Auschwitz 400,000 survived selection, 905,000

did not. The names of 230,000 survivors are known. Almost all of the Auschwitz records were

destroyed by the retreating Germans. The names of the survivors that are known are primarily

from records of other camps which include

information that the prisoners originally came from Auschwitz (Jewish). Hitlers concentration

camps

killed many people and he did keep records of his slaves but since the retreating Germans

destroyed many of the documents in Auschwitz not many records remain. The records that do

remain have been taken by surrounding countries. Some of the concentration camps records that

survived the war have been seized by British, Soviets, and United States military forces

(Jewish) This means that there are still records of Hitlers awful killings and the names of those

he used as slaves.

These are all reasons the United States considers Adolf Hitler a worse dictator than

Joseph Stalin. Hitler was an enemy and Stalin was an ally. This is important because if the Soviet

Union had never became allies with the United States it is possible that the Allied Powers would

have never won the war with the Soviets on Germanys side; which is important because if

Germany had won the war, the world would not be safe for democracy and the United States

would have been forced into communism or fascism. The other reason is because Hitler killed

outside his country and Stalin killed within his own empire. Hitler killed outside of Germany

which made it a problem for other countries, including the United States. Stalin killed inside of

his own country and no other countries knew about what he was doing. This is important because

if the United States would have known about the killing Stalin was doing the United States may

have got into a war with the Soviets, which is important because it save the United States from

having to fight another war. Lastly, Hitler kept record of his killing and Stalin did not. This is

important because if Hitler never kept record of his killings the United States would not know

how many people he killed, and this is important because many people today deny the fact that
Hitler ever killed the way he did but these records proved that he murdered many innocent

people. This is why the United States considers Adolf Hitler a worse dictator than Joseph Stalin.