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Question: How many of the 20,000,000 russian deaths in WW ll were killed by the Russians for political reasons !?
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Anybody's guess so no one knows for sure!. Almost certainly there were thousands of soldiers shot by political commissars for retreating, but the Great Purge of 1937-1938 under Stalin's direction probably eliminated far more Russian/Ukrainian people than were killed at Russian hands during WWII!.
From http://www!.brama!.com/ukraine/history/gre!.!.!.
"Between 1937 and 1938, given the lack of complete data, it is difficult for Western scholars to establish the total loss of life brought about by the Stalinist terror!. Adam Ulam and others estimate that in the Soviet Union as a whole, about 500,000 were executed in 1937-39 and somewhere between 3 and 12 million were sent to labor camps where many perished!." Www@QuestionHome@Com

If you send soldiers into battle one with a rifle and five rounds and another two unarmed in behind him with the instructions to pick his rifle up when he is killed and the same for the third then drive them onto the enemy with guns shooting the odd one if he hesitates then your army are going to have a very high death toll , Russians used there men as fodder and hoped to win by shear weight of numbers !. also the white russian population were wiped out by Stalin, and another 5 million died in gulags !. Mr Stalin was the worst mass murderer in history and made Hitler look like a pussy cat!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A good question that is impossible to answer!. There is no doubt that, in many battles (Stalingrad is one) political commissars were operating behind Russian lines shooting anyone who retreated (cf Stalingrad - Anthony Beevor)!. Additionally it seems reasonably clear that many Russians who were captured by the Germans were killed or put in camps on their repatriation!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Many deaths were caused by commanders considering the Pioneer Battalions as totally expendable!. These units consisted of "social undesirables", such as intellectuals or those denounced by neighbours!. Such units were often used to clear minefields by walking across them!.
This goes to prove that under Communism, human beings serve no other purpose than to serve the State!. A lesson from history!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Impossible to get good data, an overly fuzzy definition of who died during the war rather than near the dates of it!.

You have semi-reliable data from the twenties on population and from the fifties, between it is so meager you're unable to tell how many died when!. Even your claim of 20 million is just rounding off the number to the most likely 10 million, you can't pretend it is even give or take one million, let alone five million!. So trying to break it down further!? estimates on top of estimates on top of estimates!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Haven't we moved on from there!? The Soviet Union suffered more civilian and military deaths during WWII than any other allies!. Get over it!. It's a fact!. Whatever Stalin did later is not part of the equation!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

What kind of question is that!? And how are we supposed to know!? Actually, during the 'Great Patriotic War', there is something of a truce with reactionaryelements, and even the Churches were reopened!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The winners write history!. You'll never know!.Www@QuestionHome@Com