Did people have more freedom under Stalin or Hitler?

We are taught to see both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union as the greatest of evils. Hitler because of the unprecedented horror of the Holocaust, and Stalin because of the endless wastes of the Gulags and his regime killing tens of millions. The sheer repression and brutality within each regime is therefore often compared.
My question is, do you think people in each respective country generally had more economic, political, social and religious freedom under Hitler or Stalin? Obviously "freedom" was few and far between under both regimes.

Reply 1

Monkey.Man

my first bet would be that people had less freedom under stalin, simply because stalin was just ridiculous; hitler only picked on certain people whereas stalin picked on everybody

Reply 2

Zerohedge100

Original post by cometgirl

We are taught to see both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union as the greatest of evils. Hitler because of the unprecedented horror of the Holocaust, and Stalin because of the endless wastes of the Gulags and his regime killing tens of millions. The sheer repression and brutality within each regime is therefore often compared.
My question is, do you think people in each respective country generally had more economic, political, social and religious freedom under Hitler or Stalin? Obviously "freedom" was few and far between under both regimes.

I would suggest that these people who lives under one of these regimes plus the modern Western religions are best placed to answer.

I would also suggest that they are looked upon as deviants for their point of view which is not allowed in official channels today, so this should be a big clue in answering your question.

Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 10 years ago)

Both.

I wouldn't say more freedom under either regime. People had to toe a specific line, or they were removed from existence.

Reply 5

Cylos

4

The Gestapo was relatively small, relying on denunciations focusing much more on the 'undesirables' who did not fit in to Hitler's policy of volksgemeinschaft (German community). The Nazis predominantly focused on Jews and political enemies.
The NKVD had quotas of how many people they had to arrest, there was widespread targeting of societal groups. No one single group was free from this threat.
I would there was more freedom under Hitler if you were German, but it's a clutching at straws argument.

Reply 6

crayz

It depends what you define as freedom. Most of the world at the time lacked what we today consider to be freedom.

Reply 7

El Salvador

21

Stalin simply because the Soviet Union was too big of a country for him to literally control every single person. I might be living in some remote area.

Reply 8

username402722

19

If they were white and not Jewish or homosexual, more freedom under Hitler. Not that it is a reason to justify or approve of either regime.

Reply 9

Arbolus

13

I've always been under the impression that life under Hitler was generally pretty decent, so long as you kept your head down and you weren't from one of the many groups he didn't like. Life under Stalin on the other hand was dominated by fear and paranoia for everyone, including the Soviet leadership.

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(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 10

Changing Skies

22

I'd say Hitler.

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Reply 11

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper

22

Original post by Monkey.Man

my first bet would be that people had less freedom under stalin, simply because stalin was just ridiculous; hitler only picked on certain people whereas stalin picked on everybody

Everybody who was against the ideology of socialism, that is correct! but does this not apply to Hitler too? everyone who was against national socialism was killed in the worst case, no matter whether the people were jews or not.

(edited 10 years ago)

Did people have more freedom under Stalin or Hitler?

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