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It was Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) who once famously said, “If only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy. If millions die, that’s only statistics.”
That tells us a bit about his thinking, which led him to become a modern-day monster.
Even the devil incarnate, perhaps.
He didn’t have discernible horns and tail and wasn’t holding a pitchfork, so some didn’t recognize him.
Although in hindsight it seems to have been a good thing that the Soviets stopped Hitler in WWII, in truth both Russia and Germany were led by egomaniacs who, as commanders in chief, didn’t always make the best decisions for their armed forces.
During the Soviet dictator’s leadership, an estimated 40M (+/- 20M) people died.
The precise number is hard to come by, but historians agree the number is in the millions.
It speaks to Stalin’s disregard for human life, whether one or many.
And it mattered not whether they were his own people.
He possessed no more empathy for them than for non-Russians.
