Skip to main content
Historical memory matters – 80 years on from Operation Barbarossa
A growing revisionism that equates Nazism and communism is a genuine danger that must be countered, says JONATHAN WHITE
Soviet soldiers advance through the snow

ON THIS day 80 years ago, over three-and-a-half million German and other Axis troops attacked the Soviet Union along a 1,800-mile front. 

Some 148 divisions, representing 80 per cent of the German army, were supported by Romanian, Italian, Hungarian, Slovak and Finnish forces.

For the Nazis, in particular, this was the highest point yet of their project for fascist expansion and it was underpinned by a racist ideology toward the Jews, but also toward the Slavs living in the Soviet territories. 

Liberation webinar, 30 November2024, 6pm (UK)
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Lenin
Features / 20 January 2024
20 January 2024
JONATHAN WHITE examines the meaning and significance of the concept of ‘the dictatorship of the proletariat’
Jonathan White; 80s Sam/CC
Concert Review / 8 June 2023
8 June 2023
JONATHAN WHITE is awe-struck by the way Roger Waters raids the past to keep an absolute and urgent focus on the present
Red Flag Over Reichstag
Features / 7 May 2020
7 May 2020
There is a concerted attempt to rehabilitate fascism and downplay the resistance of working people and the communist role in defeating fascist barbarism. We underestimate this trend at our peril, warns JONATHAN WHITE
Lenin on yellow and red backdrop
Features / 21 April 2020
21 April 2020
JONATHAN WHITE explains how Lenin’s theoretical insights were able to translate into practical action that shaped subsequent history and which continues to shape our turbulent present
Similar stories
Raising_a_flag_over_the_Reichstag_-_Restoration
Features / 30 January 2025
30 January 2025
NICK WRIGHT examines the British ruling class's complex relationship with fascism before, during and after the second world war
Candles
Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 / 27 January 2025
27 January 2025
The proponents and enablers of Holocaust distortion and anti-communism now have increasing political power and influence in a number of European countries, obstructing an understanding of the reality of fascism’s crimes, warns MARY DAVIS
Nazi soldiers separate Hungarian Jews on the ramp at Auschwi
Editorial: / 26 January 2025
26 January 2025
16spanishcivilwar
Features / 29 June 2024
29 June 2024
Teaching youngsters about the International Brigades and the Spanish civil war is vital for a proper understanding of 20th-century history, writes JIM JUMP