• Vladimir Putin visited Stalingrad to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
• Putin’s purpose was to connect the past war to the present one, and to rouse Russian pride and warn his enemies of their coming doom.
• Putin’s actions are compared to those of Adolf Hitler in 1938, when he annexed Austria and the Sudetenland.
• Putin’s lies are compared to Hitler’s, and the article suggests that Putin is using propaganda as projection to immunize himself from having a more plausible charge flung at him.
• The article suggests that Germany’s decision to send tanks to Ukraine is part of their long reckoning with their crimes.
Published February 3, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read George Packer’s original post This Is Not 1943
