Why was Josef Stalin worse than Adolf Hitler?

Question: Why was Josef Stalin worse than Adolf Hitler!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

He killed far more people in his pogroms than Hitler did in the holocaust!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I'd argue Stalin was worse!. However bad Hitler was, and that was plenty, I could at least argue that Hitler may not have been in his right mind for the last few years of his life!. At about the time the 2nd world war started, Hitler's quack doctor had begun treating him with various concoctions that almost certainly began affecting him mentally!. In particular you can watch videos of Hitler and see the physical deterioration!. And while Hitler certainly approved of the acts carried out in the name of Nazism, he in most cases was not personally responcible for actually planning such things as the Holocaust; he merely gave the green light!.
In the case of Stalin, there is no mitigating mental issues, other than sociopathy!. And the actions of starving the kulaks, murdering the bulk of his officer corps in the late 1930s, and all the other atrocities do in fact come from policy dictated by Stalin and handed down the chain of command for implimintation!. Where Hitler's underlings would still act on their own initiative if they believed Hitler would approve (The Final Solution), in the USSR such initiative would have resulted in their execution or worse!. Thus Stalin's fingerprints may be found more directly on the policies that resulted in so many deaths!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

He wasn't!.

Don't get me wrong, he was responsible for an awful lot of deaths!. Many of those, such as during the Purges, were (from what I've read) more due to him letting the situation spiral out of control and not stopping it when he could, rather than him masterminding the whole thing--but he's still responsible for what happened as a result of his leadership!. Several million died in the famines he made worse, too!.

But compare to Hitler!. The Nazis not only killed a lot of people due to the fighting, but they deliberately rounded up and systematically killed 9 million civilians (6 m Jews, 3 m others)!. Hitler stoked the fires of racism and anti-Semitism in Europe, causing large amounts of suffering to Jews, Roma ("Gypsies"), gays, and other minority groups!.

also consider what the two did militarily!. Stalin invaded several countries with little or no provocation, but to be fair, most of that was to reclaim land that had been lost during the Russian Civil War--that was land previously owned by Russia!. That doesn't make it right, but it's a lot more understandable than bare naked aggression!. Hitler, on the other hand, conquered country after country until he overextended himself, spreading his Final Solution throughout much of Europe!.

also, I think FDR and Churchill would have given you a more pointed response than I just did!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Stalin was a pussycat compared to Hitler!. Let's do some maths:
Stalin:
Famines: Ukraine 1930s - 2 to 3 million
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Holodomor
Collectivisation: 2 million
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Kulak
Purges 1!.2 million

Total - 6!.5million - a horrendous total!.

Hitler:
Holocaust:
6million
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Holocaust
WW2 - Hitler was directly responsible for EVERY death in WW2
72million
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/World_War_I!.!.!.

Total - 78million - an unbelievable number

Those who argue that Stalin was a more murderous dictator either do not know their history or have a political agenda to downplay Hitler's crimes!.

Casimir - you're right it is an over simplification - I've just had enough fighting Neo-nazi teenage w@nkers on YA & got a bit tetchy!.
Soviet figures are about right though - see J Arch Getty - The Road to Terror
Still, had Hitler not been an insane ar$ehole - 78million people would have had longer lives ;-)Www@QuestionHome@Com

The question comes up here a lot, and from what I've seen, most people now consider Stalin to be worse, comparing Stalin's estimated death toll of 20 million to the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust!. I think this argument is pretty flawed on a few counts:
Hitler killed a lot more than the 6 million Jews, for one thing!. Over 11 million Soviet civilians were murdured by the Nazi's in just under 3 years, as well as over 3 million Soviet POW's!. So take the 6 million, add the 11 million, and the 3 million, and it's now a tie in terms of who killed the most, and there is still more to add to Hitlers total!.
More importantly, Hitler was stopped, Stalin wasn't!. If Hitler had won the war, the plan the Nazi party drew up for the former Soviet Union called for a native population of about 50 million to work as slaves on German farms!. Given that the pre-war population of the Soviet Union was around 180 million, Hitler was aiming for a death toll that dwarfed anything Stalin did!. And finally, while I would never argue that Stalin's ends justified his means, in terms of looking at how evil he was in comparison to Hitler, it matters!. Stalin killed 20 million people in an attempt to bring a country just leaving the middle ages into the industial age!. Hitler killed 20+ million in an attempt to kill over 100 million people and wipe entire races and cultures off the planet!. Consider also that when Stalin died, the Soviet Union was one of two Superpowers in then world!. When Hitler died, Germany was in rubble and conqured by the the countries Hitler chose to go to war with!.

Stalin was horrible, but lets not kid ourselves, Hitler was in a class all to himself when it comes to evil!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The first thing to make clear is that both were completely ruthless in trying to achieve their view of what society should be!.

It is safe to say thought that Stalin clearly was the more cruel and evil man!. The reasons for this are numerous!.
-Hitler was trully loved by his people and was elected, while Stalin rose not due to his particular gifts but rather to eliminating opponents in the communist dictatorial system already somewhat in place!.

-Next is that Hitler himself trully believed he was doing good for his country, Stalin was much less of a nationalist and much more an opportunist!.

-Hitler's view of what the nation should be, though twisted and vile, did have many positive outcomes for German citizens!. Under Stalin, no one but the state aparatus got anywhere or anything!.

-Hitler's racial ideas that made him so evil were not much farther off from Churchill's, Wilson's, or any other prominent intellectuals leaders of the time!. His idea for conquest of the lands to the east were based on the American conquest of the west!. Stalin's evil was based on simple inhumanity, paranoia, and complete lacking of any "positive" outcome for his own people!.

-Hitler's ideas were not just his own!. The German population from top to bottom was rather enthralled by many of his plans!. Stalin on the other hand selfishly made brutal plans for his own people!.

In the end, of the at least 20 million Soviets that died during his rule, not one can say that Stalin cared about their fate!. Stalins desire to kill Jews was not far off from Hitlers!. Stalin killed his own people for absolutely nothing!. Had Hitler bumped his head and died in April 1939, he would be regarded as the greatest German stateman of all time!. Stalin would never have achieved anything of similar stature at any time!.

Both were men without scrupples but no one can deny that Hitler was profoundly better liked even by the enemies that knew him than Stalin was liked by his own friends!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A similar question to this one was asked not very long ago on Yahoo!Answers!. The conclusion of that discussion was that Hitler was worse than Stalin!. However, if you must the make the opposite claim, you could argue that Stalin killed his own people and killed even more people than Hitler did!. Still, I think the evidence points overwhelmingly to Hitler actually being worse than Stalin!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Stalin killed a lot more people!. And they had different motives!. Hitler killed Jews out of a twisted and perverse desire to protect HIS German people!. Stalin massacred his own people and knew it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Stalin killed more and without a justification for killingWww@QuestionHome@Com