WEBVTT - Part Four: Beria: Stalin's Pedophile Cop & the Soviet Oppenheimer 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:05.680 Also media here, everyone, Robert Evans here, and before we 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:08.880 get to the episode, obviously a lot of people in 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:11.399 Gaza need a lot of different help. But we've been 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:15.360 connected to the Algazawi family by a friend of ours 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:18.640 who's doing aid work there. Right now. They are trying 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.759 to get fourteen members of their family out of Gaza 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:26.200 before you know, things get any worse for them, and 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.240 they're raising money to do so on go fund Me. 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:33.440 If you google help al Gazawe family escape Gaza go 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:35.960 fund Me, you can find it. Algazawie is spelled a 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:40.880 l g h a zz a w I. Yeah, we're 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.040 trying to help them, you know, get to a safer place, 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:52.240 So please consider donating if you can. Ah, boy, howdy. 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.760 You know what I love more than anything is a nice, 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:59.160 good piece and new Hitler news. You know, for whatever reason, 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.320 we don't get a lot of that anymore. Baffling as 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:05.640 to why, but I just came across the story's not new, 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:08.960 but it's hit social media the way these things apparently 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:12.160 sometimes do when people realize there's engagement to be gotten. 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:16.360 And the title of this New York Post article, Joe Kassebian, 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.720 our guest host of the Lions by Doggies podcast co 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:24.080 host and Sophie, my producer. The headline of this article 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:28.880 is Adolf Hitler's last living relative convicted of pedophilia. Now, 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.479 and that we get a picture of like a man 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:35.480 who looks to be in his sixties, with like a 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:42.120 bald head that's entirely a tattoo, very yellow teeth and look, folks, 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.040 no one would love it more than me. If there 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:47.520 was there was some new Hitler gossip that made the 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:52.120 family look bad. There's no fresh Hitler article, some fresh hitlerisms. 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.680 The first the first line of the article is a 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.960 man claiming to be Adolf Hitler's last living relative has 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.320 been convicted of pedophilia. And this guy is a creep 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.680 and his last name is apparently Hitler. But there's other 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:09.440 there's other Hitler's. He has other living relatives, right like 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.720 this guy. Even if this guy is related to Hitler, 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:14.679 which I have not done the work to confirm, he's 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:17.359 not the last Hitler. I mean, I wish he's gonna do. 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:19.440 You know, when you're convicted, When when you're convicted or 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:21.480 charge of pedophilia, you gotta take some of the heat off, 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:24.280 Like man, anybody googles my name, They're just gonna go 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.920 with pedophilia, pedophilia. How can I possibly beat that as 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:29.880 a headline? I know, I'm a Hitler. 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:34.000 He is the one guy who could mitigate being convicted 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.480 of pedophilia. Is like, okay, this is bad, but compared 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:41.560 to my uncle Hitler, well, let's say, you know, like 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.359 it always reminds me that, you know, Willie Hitler, Hitler's 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.760 nephew retired to Upstate New York after serving in the 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.360 US Navy in World War Two and then died and 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:53.680 kept to see he changed his last name to I 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:55.720 think is Stuart Hustin or something like that. You would 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.280 want to, you know, if you're not a Hitler. 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:00.720 Yeah, And one of his neighbors said, you know what, 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:02.800 like because all it once it came out who he was. 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.480 Like then the local news is interviewing all his neighbors, 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:07.520 and one of my favorite lines I think I've ever 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.120 read in any local news piece is his neighbors like, 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:11.560 you know what, now that you mentioned it, he did 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:13.920 kind of look like Hitler. He did kind of have 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:16.600 a Hitler vibe doing Yeah, there's Hilary. 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:20.480 There's another story that's a bit more accurate than this, 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.760 which is that all of Hitler's last living relatives agreed 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:27.799 independently not to have kids. Not entirely true. There are 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.600 a number of Hitler relatives who are like, probably shouldn't 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.760 make any more of this, probably had enough of the Hitler's. 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:36.920 All the Hitler's gathering around this circle, putting their hands 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:38.360 in and say backshots on. 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:45.880 Three it is. You know, I do actually kind of 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:49.160 feel like maybe it's worse to be like as a Hitler, 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.040 I'm not going to have any kids because you're kind 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:54.680 of leaning into his weird attitudes about genetics, because yeah, 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:58.400 Hitler wasn't Hitler. Wasn't Hitler because of his his genes. 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:00.000 He was Hitler because of his Hitler. 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.800 That reminds me of So I can actually talk about 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.240 this now because they never made me sign an NDA, 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:11.520 but the History Channel interviewed me to possibly host a 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:15.640 show about Hitler a couple months ago, and man, I 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:19.560 wanted the jobs story, god damn much, and for some 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:22.279 reason it involved me repelling down rock walls and stuff. 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.440 I'm not entirely sure why, but they'll share. 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:26.760 How did you really report on Hitler. 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:30.919 Specifically Hitler's DNA, Like I didn't give a single flying 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.320 fuck because the topic is so stupid. But I'm like, 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:35.520 you're telling me I get to be on the History Channel, 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.520 repelled on rock walls and it's about dumb shit about 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:39.440 Hitler's DNA. 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:41.039 Just sign me. 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:42.960 This is like if you told eight year old to 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.800 be to get to do this, you'd be fucking ecstatic. 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:50.279 Yeah. Wow, that was a long descent. Speaking of long descents, 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:56.000 let's talk about the last ten years of Hitler's life. Yeah, 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.679 there's good ways you could do that. You know, Joe, 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.880 everybody he loves talking Hitler. Not everybody loves talking Hitler, 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.600 but enough people do that. It's a pretty reliable source 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:07.480 of content for a number of people. 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.440 And never in this shows for people who do a 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.359 job like me and you, is a never ending font 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:14.120 of content. 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:18.320 Yeah, he really has done the podcasters and History Channel 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:22.599 documentary producers of the world a solid Speaking of things, 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.680 people love to talk about World War Two. Now, I 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:30.080 don't think it's controversial to say most people who have 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.920 a favorite war that war's World War Two, right, And 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:36.799 people love talking World War Two for the same reason 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.160 that Warhammer forty thousand is now the most profitable export 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.479 in British history. It's got a little bit of everything, right. 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.440 And if the experience you're looking for in a war 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:50.640 is an almost Michael Scott like story of executive incompetence 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.440 leading to disaster and unbelievable awkwardness, well the Big Dub 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:58.000 Dub does has that one in spades. Brother. And this 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.760 brings me back to the story of Joe of Stalin 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.600 and his buddies, which now includes Lavnti Barria as an 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:09.680 integral member and at this point pretty experienced ethnic cleanser. 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:10.039 Right. 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.960 He's good at deportations. He's done a lot of practice. Right, Yeah, 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:17.000 he's up there, right, top ten percent of deporters in 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:21.800 the world at this moment, right, almost unquestionably. And you know, 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:28.080 nineteen forty, nineteen forty one, prior to Operation Barbarassa, everybody 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:32.240 in Stalin's inner circle, almost everybody. We'll talk about malatav 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:34.240 In a second, but most of the people in Stalin's 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:38.039 inner circle, including Stalin, no, some kind of conflict is 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.960 coming with the Nazis, right Stalin though, And again when 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.400 people say that and that's accurate, they often mean that 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.280 to be like, everyone knew that a war like World 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:50.560 War II was for Russia was coming and they did not. Right, 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:52.640 Stalin would not have made a lot of the choices 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:54.920 he made if he felt like the World War Two 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:57.840 that Russia got was right in the office, right, Yeah, 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:00.520 he'd probably be a little bit less pergy, a little 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.880 less pergy, a little more, have some kind of effective 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:07.440 defenses set up for the Wehrmacht, you know, e a 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:11.400 little less keep his entire air force grounded so it 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.640 gets blown up on the tarmacx E. You know, couple 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:15.680 of things he might have done. 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:19.480 Kills so many pilots they can't even fucking fly effectively. 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.760 Some changes would have been made. Right. And when I 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.000 say that, like Stalin doesn't know the war that's coming 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.080 is coming, it's part of what I'm saying is because 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:29.960 Stalin is certain a conflicts coming, but he thinks they've 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.560 got years before anything happens. Right, he thinks they've got 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:35.960 we've got enough time to rebuild the Red Army from 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.120 the purges, and not just to do that, but when 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:43.440 the USSR moves west to take eastern Poland, to take 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:47.280 all these like Baltic states, right, Stalin has his troops 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:51.680 disassemble the fortifications on their western border. Right because he 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:53.680 wants to move those up, right. He doesn't want there 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.280 to not be fortifications. But he's like, well, we'll take 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.920 these apart and we'll rebuild a defensive line closer to 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:02.440 the new border right with the West. We just move 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:06.840 forward a lot. But there's like an awkward period in 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:10.800 between taking apart the fortifications that had existed and getting 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.240 the new ones up. And they're not going to have 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.320 that new set of fortifications up by July of nineteen 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:21.200 forty one, when the Nazis unleash Operation Barbarossa, which is 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.720 still the largest military operation in the history of mankind 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:29.200 hopefully always will be. I want to see it get beat. Yeah, 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:33.600 always going to put star like that. Yeah, you don't 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:36.600 attempt anybody into beating the Guinness Book of World Records 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:38.360 like the execution Now you get to close it up. 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:40.960 Oh god, I would love to see the Guinness Book 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:44.000 of World Records entry for that though, just based on 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:49.760 the executioner one. Yeah. While Stalin is convinced that there's 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:52.320 going to be a fight and Hitler's obviously got one plan, 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:56.280 there's this awkward innerstittle period in late nineteen forty where 0:08:56.320 --> 0:09:00.040 Molotov as the USSR's foreign policy guy and is the 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.360 dumbest guy who's close to Stalin. I don't know if 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:06.920 that's generally agreed by historians myriad having read a couple 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:10.160 books about these guys. Molotov was kind of the dipshit 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:11.160 of the crew, right. 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:13.920 He doesn't seem like the sharpest sickle of the hammer. 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.000 You know, he is not the best of them, right, 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.480 And Molotov is kind of notably the guy who is 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:23.280 most convinced that, like we actually might be able to 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:26.360 ally with the Nazis to fight the British. You know, 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.600 he has kind of a fantasy that this might be possible. 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.160 And he has this fantasy because Joaquing von Ribbentrop, who's 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:34.440 his opposite I mean again. 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:36.559 It's the Molotov Ribbon Tromp packed, right. People are aware 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:40.200 of this, Yeah, Joaquim von ribin Tropp, his opposite number 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:44.199 in Germany, has kind of like incepted this idea that like, oh, 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.000 you know what, I know, our bosses don't get along, 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.559 but like I feel like Hitler might let the USSR 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:53.520 in the tripartheid pack. You could be member number four. 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:55.920 You could be on a team with heavy hitters like 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:58.280 Italy come on Italy. 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:03.640 You know notable military mass friends Benito Mussolini. 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.840 You know who always pulls their weight in twentieth century war. 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:11.160 The Italians, guys, don't worry. They can't possibly switch sides 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:16.480 on us again. It is very funny. Italy is like 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.320 the case study of a country this amazing period of 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.760 like utter military dominance and then just never gets their 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:28.319 shit together again for a thousand years. I'm being a 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:30.520 little unfair to a couple of the city states, but 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.520 it's for the purposes of comedy. I don't think. I 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.679 don't think anyone really thinks there was ever a serious 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:40.160 possibility of like the USSR and the Nazis allying against 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:44.920 the British in a realistic way, right, But Molotov thinks 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:47.480 it might be possible for a while now again he's 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:51.280 not fully convinced of this, and Ribin Trop it's kind 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.240 of a back and forth with trying to like keep 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.160 Molotov on board with the idea, and Ribin Trap, who's 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.080 also a little bit of a dipshit nearly has a 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.560 panic attack because, like Molotov is in Berlin, they're they're 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:05.360 talking all this through and the British launch an air 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:09.400 raid and you know, Rippentrop is like, don't worry Molotov, 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.640 the Brits are already beat And in a rare moment 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.640 of lucidity, Molotov asks, well, then who is dropping the 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:19.199 bombs on us? If you've got the British on the ropes, 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:22.679 who is bombing your capital? Which, to be fair to Molotov, 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:24.960 that's not a bad question in the moment to ask 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.320 that'll buff out. It's a little buff out of Berlin. 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:34.440 I have the last gasp from a dying empire carpet 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:40.280 bombing the capitol. It's war, right, Your. 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:42.920 Capital is gonna get a little completely destroyed in a 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.760 way that very few cities in history have ever been destroyed. 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:49.679 But hey, it comes with sixties. It's going to be great. 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:54.000 It's great for real estate prices, ask Roterdom. Yeah, yeah, 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.880 Roderdam's gonna eventually be doing very well. So this does 0:11:57.920 --> 0:11:59.960 not deal directly with Barriya, but I found it pass 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:03.679 and Sheila Fitzpatrick's book on Stalin's team that I enjoyed 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.599 too much not to share. Malatav had a meeting with 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:09.000 Hitler too, and observed with interest that he was trying 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:13.400 to do propaganda on him. Evidently he was very one sided, 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.840 an extreme nationalist as Chauvins, who is blinded by his ideas, 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:19.400 which is not a bad description of Hitler. I just 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:24.840 find the Hitler's doing propaganda on me. Imagine that from Hitler. 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:29.000 You think this guy shouldn't have propaganda me. I don't know. 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.920 He seems like such an honest customer. Every other time. 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:37.880 Propaganda from a Hitler. No. So, Barry's actual role in 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:42.000 this period pretty obvious. As the USSR spymaster, he is 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.720 responsible for ferrying beams of information to Stalin that make 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.760 it very clear the Germans are about to invade. There's 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.360 a lot of data on this, right, They had no 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:54.080 good realon and Barria, I mean not to his credit 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.000 because of what he's about to do is not handle 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.920 this the best way he can. But Barria has plenty 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.120 of info to be like, well, yeah, obviously they're about 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.199 to fucking invade, right, Like they have three million men 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:07.600 masked on the border. This is not the hardest thing 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:08.360 to figure out. 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.600 They're just camping. You know how the Germans love fresh air. 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:14.200 Yeah, I he love tens. He loves the ground. It's 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:19.839 very nice. My German accent terrible anyway. So this is 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.120 a dangerous position to be in because Stalin has already 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.040 made up his mind that the Germans are not going 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.280 to invade right yet. You know, so, Bary it you 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:29.280 can't just go to Stalin and be like, you're wrong, 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:32.360 they're obviously about to invade, because telling Stalin he's wrong 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:34.840 is a great way to wind up not alive anymore, 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:37.440 you know. So Mary has got to thread the needle 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:41.280 of he has to warn Stalin because when they do invade, 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:43.640 you don't want Stalin to be like, where was the 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:48.480 fucking evidence of this, right? Why didn't you? You also 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:49.719 have to set it up in a way that you're 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.000 not saying I told you so, because he'll just kill 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:56.240 you right this. This is a tough to be fair 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:58.360 to bury you. That's a hard position to be in. 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:00.200 You know, there's no inforgen. 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.520 Waiting inline to be the one that finally gets to 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.840 kill Barria, like, oh please let him fuck up. 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:09.679 Yeah, they've got like a ton teene going now. In 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.680 a memo written just days before the invasion, Barria laid 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.480 out a huge number of warning signs that one was imminent, 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:19.480 before concluding with forced cheer that since Stalin had figured 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.720 out nothing was going to happen. It was all probably fine. 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:26.200 It is kind of a masterclass and ass covering. But 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:28.920 part of protecting his own ass was that Barria had 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.080 to attack the military officers who were trying to warn 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:35.000 Stalin and the intelligence officers who were trying to provide warnings. 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:39.080 Right And in his book, Sangster writes, quote, Barria also 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.120 knew the facts and was worried about an attack in 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:44.520 the Caucasus oil fields. It amounted to a curious problem 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:46.600 because such was the fear of Stalin that no one 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:48.720 wanted to disagree with him or even suggest he was 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.280 wrong or upset him. Barria went so far as to 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.960 accuse the head of military intelligence of being a liar, 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:58.120 even though his own information backed those observations. Now, I 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:02.000 think the funniest maybe example of how deranged things get 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:04.880 is that, like obviously Germany had a lot of communists 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:07.760 before the Nazis win, a lot of those communists just 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:09.720 kind of sink back into the woodwork, the ones who 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:11.880 are not prominent enough that they're going to get purged 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:13.440 or at least not going to spend too long in 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:15.480 a camp. Right, A lot of guys get put in 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:17.920 a you know what are called wild concentration camps for 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:19.680 a while and they have a bad time, but they 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:21.920 eventually get out and an east number of these guys 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.560 get drafted into the Wehrmont later, right, and some of 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.840 these significant number I think of these guys in the 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.760 lead up to Operation Barbarosa are like, well, I don't 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:35.520 want to invade Russia. I am still a communist, and 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:39.320 they sneak across the border to try and warn the Russians, right, 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.160 to try to warn Comrade Stalin, like, hey, guys, the 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.440 fascists are coming, right, assuming. 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:49.600 The immediately seriously and nothing bad happens to these loyal 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:51.080 German communists. 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:53.720 They are treated as spies. That's what you get for 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:58.080 trying to stop Operation Barbarossa Damn. On June twenty second, 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:01.360 nineteen forty one, some three million Germans, complete with a 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:04.160 lot of tanks and trucks but even more horses, cross 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:06.880 the Soviet border and start committing war crimes like there 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.640 was a shortage at the war crime store, which is 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.360 just a TJ Max. In the first few days, the 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:17.240 Wehrmacht encountered minimal resistance and Soviet losses were nightmarishly like 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:20.160 high enough. Basically pretty much any other country in the 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:22.920 history of the world would have collapsed from the kind 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.800 of casualties the Soviets are taking in these early days 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:29.680 of barbarosso right, like they are using the entire modern 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:32.560 day active duty strength of the US Army, and some 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.600 of these engagements in terms of like captured, right primarily. 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:38.600 The only time you ever read about casualty numbers quite 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.280 like this is reading about like, I don't know, any 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:42.800 war involving China. 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.080 Right right, right, yeah, like the the the War over 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:49.920 the Heavenly Kingdom, the Hong Kong or Taipei Rebellion Kingdom, 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:51.880 which a series of about kingdom. 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:57.479 Right, thanks for that, layup, Robert, Yeah, these are unthinkable. 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:00.760 Like again, the entire US would collapse if we had 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:06.000 losses like this. It's impossible to really comprad what casualties 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:06.960 that we suffer today. 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.880 Oh the entire population of Cleveland. 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:13.840 Yeah yeah, we lost to Portland out there, sorry, guys. 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:21.680 Most of San Francisco just got captured. So Barria had 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:25.120 given out orders, you know kind of because again there 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:27.879 the ver not just not the Wehrmacht, but the Luftwaffa 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:32.359 is doing like some cross border air reconnaissance and stuff 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:34.320 in the days leading up to this, right, and on 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:36.679 the day of the attack, right, Obviously, planes are heading 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.000 in a lot of areas ahead of the ground troops. 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.600 They're doing attacks, they're bombing airfields. And because it's it's 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.840 unclear initially is this an invasion, is there some sort 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.160 of fuck up? I mean, it's pretty clear to people 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:51.600 who are not blinkered by, you know, not wanting to 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:55.879 anger Stalin what's happening. But Barria, acting on Stalin's orders, 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:58.760 orders that Soviet troops not fire on these planes that 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.560 have crossed in the Soviet air space because like Stalin 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.399 doesn't want to provoke a fight, right, little laid on 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:09.560 the draw there, j Stall. Maybe they're just lost, Yeah, 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:13.680 maybe they're just lost and bombing our airfields mistakenly. Maybe 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:15.600 they think they're their own airfields and they just need 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:19.199 to get rid of some planes. It happens after his 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.040 fallen execution, Barry was denounced as a trader in Soviet 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:26.040 history books for this. But this is not really fair. 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:27.600 This is the only time I'll say this. That's not 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.720 really fair to bury you. As Sangster points out, Barria 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.439 had in fact Warren Stalin on June twelfth, writing that 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:36.480 in a few instances they the German aircraft had penetrated 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:39.480 sixty miles or more in the direction of military installations 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:43.479 and large troop concentrations. Stalin appeared paralyzed and decided not 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:47.520 to blink in case it provoked the Germans really bad call. 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:49.760 I think we can all agree here. 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:55.640 Don't look, I understand that they're bombing us. Maybe it's 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.679 some misunderstanding that only exists in the warped brain of 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:01.160 pre stroke Stalin. 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:05.719 Yeah, yeah, hope, maybe pre stroke Stalin. We don't know 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:08.560 when that first one hit, right, He may throwing a 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.280 blood clot at this point. Yeah, he in a couple 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:12.240 of clots. 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:15.800 So what they say about j stall really clatty. 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:18.879 Really claudi fella. Now, depending on who you ask after 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:21.440 the invasion, like in the immediate aftermath of the invasion, 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:25.159 Stalin either has this panic attack or just a mental collapse, 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:29.399 or he executes a complex face saving plan based on 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:32.200 Russian history, And the truth is probably kind of all 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:35.320 of the above. Right, we do know that he is panicked, 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.600 and not hard to see why. If three million Germans 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.800 invaded me, I would probably be a little worried. 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:43.199 Right, you normally you have to pay for that kind 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:45.800 of treatment. No, I had three invade me at a 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:48.119 hostel once, and it was a real problem until I 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.639 found out they had mally. Then things got a lot better, 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:53.879 but it was rough for a little while. Let me 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:57.640 tell you now, we know Stalin was furious for once 0:19:57.680 --> 0:19:59.720 it himself. Right, he has this line where he's like, 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:05.040 we including himself in this like foolishly squandered Lenin's great inheritance. 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:08.400 Right, there's like this moment where he's like he can't deny, like, oh, 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:10.440 this is a real this is a real fuck up 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:11.040 on my part. 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:14.719 This could have gone a lot better, Guys, I kind 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:16.720 of dropped the ball on this one, you know. 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.560 What, I've fucked up a bit here. And he immediately 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.200 flees the Kremlin for his country house, where he locks 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:23.840 himself away for the rest of the government for I 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:25.960 think like a week, and you have to presume he 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:28.280 gets the kind of drunk that no one else has 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:31.520 ever gotten. Right, this is probably a unique level of 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:35.679 fucked up, Like this is a Sherman invasion. 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:40.720 Yeah, it's it's uh, you know, the doctor Manhattan floating 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:43.680 on the Moon's surface level of enlightened drunk. 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:48.879 Now, the people who will say like he was also 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:51.399 kind of doing he was he was he was in 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:55.320 his reaction to the invasion directly sort of sign posting 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:57.479 some stuff from Russian history will point out that like 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:00.479 even the Terrible who is the ruler of Usia from 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:03.399 like fifteen forty seven to fifteen eighty four, had fucked 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:06.520 up in a pretty huge and obvious public way himself, 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:08.399 and when he did in the wake of it, he 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:11.280 like fled to hide alone so that his nobles could 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:13.960 come and find him and beg him to come back right. 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:16.080 And this is sort of like he felt like there 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:18.280 was this need for him to be like, I made 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:20.840