Foxy,

The two extremes have differences but many similarities.

Both are one-party tyrannies led by leaders with a personality cult.

Both are based on government ownership/ control of the economies (known as socialism) and both killed many of their own citizens (with Stalin far in the lead)

shadow minster,

In the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty of 1939, Stalin
and Hitler agreeing in a secret pact to divide
Eastern Europe and allow the advances of the
Wehrmacht and the Red Army for the purpose of
dividing the hapless Balts, Poles, and others,
which led to the World War.

History is clear that in 1939, Stalin and Hitler
were allies against the free people of Europe.
They were both, by then, accomplished killers,
even though Stalin led the score in victims
tortured, starved, and massacred.

Each created panic and chaos throughout Europe.
Each produced millions of refugees and homeless.
Each was expanding and building concentration camps
in which millions of innocent victims would perish.

Both despised and mistrusted democracies. Both
abhorred Jews, Christians, and organized religion.
Both were set on their conquests. The two dictators
used the same methods to deal with their domestic
opposition - terror.

In accomplishing their mutual goals, the dictators used
their respective political parties, the Communist Party
of the USSR and the National Socialist German Workers'
Party, to rid their societies of all political opposition.

Each party had its enforcers - the Communists, their
NKVD (now the KGB) and the Nazis, their Gestapo.
For all practical purposes, both security police
organizations used the same inhumane methods in their
operations. The NKVD and the Gestapo used informers,
collaborators and assistants from among the very
people they set out to enslave or destroy.

Some assisted voluntarily, while others collaborated
because of fear or weakness.

There were also, of course, numerous courageous men and
women who refused to participate in the
subjugation and destruction of the targeted groups
and individuals.

There were Jews who interceded with their lives to save
persecuted Christians, there were Christians who died in
their attempts to save Jews. They died, some along with
their entire families, or accepted their fates in
concentration camps rather than betray their fellow men.

Some are known, but most perished and are known only to
God. These heroes embody human nobility in its highest
form and stand as beacons in the otherwise bleak
history of World War II.

cont'd ...

shadow minister,

Yes, the two extremes do have differences, but
many similarities.