Soviets Who Helped the Nazis

Script & Sources:

Armchair Team Credits:

[gigrichie]

My grandpas brother use to be a Red Army soldier once. In 1942 in the frontlines of the Belarus he have been lost. After that my grandpa was sent to the frontline, and fought for Caucasus, then got injured in Maikop in 1943. Then in 1944, when Red Army soilders reached the Warsaw, they found the body of my grandpas brother laying on the street, he wore in the Weirmacht uniform and was fighting in 1/111 "Donmez" batallion of Azerbaijani Legion against soviets. When my grandpa heard this news in the Mahackala hospital, he felt anger and pain, but there was nothing to do... my grandpa died in 1971, because of sepsis. This story he told to my dad, and my dad told it to me.
I think, it's awful to face purge from your goverment or be excecuted by the enemy, but much worse is, to fight against your brother...

[VCMEntertainments]

The russian revolution and civil war ended some 18 years prior Operation Barbarossa. So for many people that sided with the white army or other national factions that had to live under soviet rule the german invasion was seen as the chance for a course-correcture.

[klingoncowboy]

My Great Uncle was a Soviet Soldier who fought in Stalingrad he was captured twice and he escaped capture twice. Ultimately he ended up fighting in Berlin as well and agreed the war lived on to his 80s.

[jokodihaynes]

The way Stalin treated ukrainians and others nationalities i don't blame them for switching sides

[unkownhistory]

Imangine being a georgian collaborator knowing their fellow and georgian citizen Jugasvilli will give no mercy

[polargray]

IIRC some collaborators were even White Army veterans and émigrés who saw this as a second chance against the Reds

An entire unit was even formed, having over 4000 men called the "Russian National People's Army" or the "RNNA", primarily led by émigrés who had ties with an American-based Russian fascist Anastasy Vonsiatsky

[ElBandito]

Soviet Union (mostly Russians) led by a Georgian vs. the 3rd Reich (mostly Germans) led by an Austrian.

[TimothyFisher-kfcq]

I feel like it’s still important to note that when it came to the partisan war, the vast majority of Soviet civilians, at least ethically Russian ones and many Belarusians & Ukrainians as well, willingly supported the partisans because most of them identified way more with their own countrymen than their occupiers, most of whom didn’t care for their wellbeing and in many cases were actively trying to exterminate them.

[Insanir]

"For England, James?" - Alec Trevelyan, 006

[PetrBojovnik]

Vlasov signed the capitulation of the ROA in the city of Nepomuk. From what I heard, the pen with which he signed the surrender was also left there.

[Kaniredin]

Also, it's so ironic that Hitler refers to other races as subhuman when the Germans were originally known as babarians during the age of the Roman Empire

[Benjamin_Bratten]

Never ask a man his salary, a woman her age, a Ukrainian nationalist what his grandpa was doing from 1941-1945.

[alpharius]

Soviet collaborators get extremely overhyped, but germans that switched sides and helped soviets get overlooked. Convenient isn't it?
Guys like Fritz Schmenkel for example, that defected to partisans and fought with them.
Or that same Paulus, who joined "national committee for free germany" and lived the rest of his life in GDR.
Not even saying that locals from liberated territories would have their own national corps formed, like the polish people's army led by Zygmunt Berling.
Why no one talks about them? Oh right, these just show that commies are not bloody fanatics that kill everyone for fun so people go against them every moment they have a chance lmao.

[miles-eqhv]

Bro they switched teams half way through the game...

[GoldenEagle]

I have been wanting for a video like this, since we all saw the soldiers who were captured by East and West even those deserted, and those put on trial, thank you armchair historian, you keep and made history sacred

[dd]

The amount of people showing support to Nazi collaborators are insane. Sure the Soviets treated their subjects badly, but the Nazis planned for a literal ethnic cleansing that would make the Holocaust forgettable. Also, its not like these collaborators didn't commit numerous atrocities against their own people.

[Gujjarkinginescapable]

The world was the darkest from 1914 to 1945
War poverty disease that period was utter hell

[obiwankenobi]

17:38 that line is poetically sad and real

[talizorahnarrayya]

Glad you did a video on this. Most people don't know about the cossaks. Or the ROA.

[MM-zesb]

Just friendly reminder to all who cry about "tried liberate Russia from commies".

Half of them was punishers who slaughtered civilians and resistance. Not just in USSR, but in Poland, France, Czechoslovakia etc

Just ask any human in Poland about Kaminski and his dogs.
Despite Kaminski was killed by germans (even for them he was a cruel dick, lol) his men became a part of Russian Liberation Army....