THE SOVIET HISTORY OF WORLD WAR II: Myths, Memories, and Realities

Seldom has a book had a more specific or exact title than this confirmation of what has long been postulated as the standard Soviet policy with regard to the history of the war and the post war era. The emphasis is on the nature of the Russian belief in a ""consistent Western policy of isolating the U.S.S.R. and encouraging German aggression"" prior to World War II, and the prevailing fear-verging-on-xenophobia traceable to earliest times and still persisting down to the present day. At no time in modern history has it been possible for Russia (in any of her political forms) to do other than abreact to the overtures of neighboring or faraway nations; at no time has she been willing to put friendly advances to the test. This account of changes undergone by the Party Line with respect to the war itself, the destalinization campaign, military and popular literature on both subjects, and the attitudes of professional historians, serves to underscore once again the Soviet principle that ""history must ultimately serve the objectives of the regime.