Cognitive harmony between not knowing and not realizing one's not knowing

Submitted by Ianus (Poland), Jan 15, 2012 at 17:19

BB King wrote :

" Ianus you seem to love the Jews and love Stalin simultaneously. Do I detect cognitive dissonance on your part? The two are mutually-exclusive.

Stalin hated Jews and persecuted them.

"Stalin's attitude [towards the Jews] seems to have been based in part on what he took to be Hitler's successful use of anti-Semitic demagogy. It was certainly also due to his increasing Russian nationalism, to which he felt, most, or many, Jews were not truly assimilable. And the idea of a special Jewish predilection for capitalism is of course to be found in Marx. He especially opposed Jews who were Bundists, or religious activists, or 'cosmopolitans,' or secessionists, or Zionists, or were agents of American-Israeli organizations."

And,

"Meanwhile unpublicized arrests [of Jews], especially of writers in Yiddish, continued, and there was a general growth of public anti-Jewish pressure. Among those arrested at the end of 1948 was Polina Molotov.

Her husband made no comment or protest to Stalin as his wife was carried off into the Siberian gulag."

http://www.jewishhistory.org/stalin%E2%80%99s-anti-semitism/<

On a private blog everyone is free to write whatever he or she wishes without any need to be truthful or exact. He may consider such questionable authors as Robert Conquest as his anti-Soviet Bible. But if someone else refers to this blog as an authoritative source to persuade me what the question of Jews, Stalin and the USSR looked like, then definitely I am not to be persuaded as I see what is written in the link at best as incomplete and unrepresentative and at worst as a distortion of reality.

If "Stalin hated and persecuted Jews" as you say in accordance with your "authorities", then will you kindly answer two questions ?

1/ What was the number of Jewish soldiers fighting in the Red Army during WWII ?

2/ How many of them were awarded the highest award "Hero of the Soviet Union"?

... Don't worry ! I know you have no idea on the subject, so I will gladly help you.

1/Circa 500 000 Jews fought in the Red Army and they suffered terrible losses.200 000 Jews perished fighting on the front.

2/ 157 Jews were awarded the highest Soviet Title - Hero of the Soviet Union, three of them twice ! 45 Jewish fighters were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union order posthumously, 8 died after receiving the award. In terms of percentages , i.e. 1 hero per 100 000 people , the Jews with 6,83 were only second to the Russians who had 7,66 , and clearly before the Ukrainians -5,88 and Belorussians - 4,19. Who were the heroes ? 39 privates and sergeants , 71 commissioned officers, 33 senior officers and 9 generals and one civilian who died a tragic death. His name was Isay Kazinetz , head of a communist resistance group in Minsk.Before he was captured on 27.03.1942 he shot three Gestapo officers dead and wounded two more.He was terribly tortured, they gouged out his eyes to get the names of his men but he betrayed nobody.He was hanged in a macabre scene at a public square on 7.05.1942.

I could continue the account but what for ? You will keep telling me that "Stalin hated Jews and persecuted them", won't you , and as usually you will close your eyes on the facts you don't want to learn calling me "a historical revisionist" because I don't subscribe to your one-sided view of historical reality. Well, given the high rate of the Heroes of the Soviet Union among Jews this must have been a very strange "hatred" and strange "persecution" as Stalin personally confirmed every single highest Soviet award.

Anyway, I wonder if I shouldn't apologize if the numbers and human fates hiding behind them don't correspond to what the simplistic propaganda leaflets you quote from tell you ?

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