For this, the “victory over fascism,” the Russian people have been willing to forget and forgive the horrors of Stalin’s purges, his manufactured famines, his deportations, and his GULAGs. “Whatever atrocities Stalin committed, it is thought that his great accomplishments cannot be diminished, since Russia won the war under his guidance. It’s as though that makes up for his crimes,” explains Sergei Chapnin, until recently the editor of the Russian Orthodox Church’s official journal. And indeed, polling reveals that some 34 percent of Russians agree that “Whatever flaws and failures are attributed to Stalin, the most important thing is that, under his leadership, Russia was victorious in World War II.”
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