𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚎𝚘𝚠

Last I looked the vast majority of the people in USSR, including the Baltics, voted against the break up when the referendum was held.

Maybe look a little bit harder. In the 1990s the Baltics each saw a majority vote for pro-independence parties. Each of the three states organised a referendum on independence, and all three voted in favour (by 77%, 78% and even 90+% in Lithuania).

The march 14th 1991 referendum you’re probably referring to was not held in the Baltics. Additionally, it is often framed as a vote against independence, but that’s not really what was on the ballot in the first place. The referendum was on the New Union Treaty, and was phrased as:

Do you consider necessary the preservation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics in which the rights and freedom of an individual of any ethnicity will be fully guaranteed?

Emphasis mine. Note that the alternative in this case was the USSR continuing as it existed before, meaning there was no vote on the dissolution of the union. The majority voted in the direction of more sovereignty for the constituent states, the closest thing to independence on the ballot.

Pro-Soviet groups in the Baltics did attempt to hold their own independence referendums, but none managed to reach a 50% turnout and they were boycotted by the Baltic Supreme councils.

Your citation there shows von Braun being a total shitstain, but not necessarily a racist shitstain. He lacked morals and principles, and used slave labour; but it doesn’t seem like he cared much about who the slaves were. So he doesn’t seem to have ended up having any qualms about hiring black people. I suppose it makes him slightly more progressive, but not necessarily any less of a bad person.

Regarding Shpakovskii, it’s unclear what he was accused or convicted of, and it’s unclear if whatever the allegations were were also true. But given the example provided, it seems the worst thing he could be getting accused of there is stealing from partisans/Jewish people, which is bad but not a war crime (assuming his case is indeed ‘similar’ to the example provided in that text).

I’m not sure we can figure out what this guy did exactly with just online sources, I can’t exactly find much more on the man. Given the evidence, he could in theory have been a Chetnik, which would fit his motivations and background. Being a full-blown Nazi seems less likely. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved in any war crimes, but there’s currently nothing that suggests that he was.

It might not have been your intention, but it just really rubs me the wrong way to hear anybody try and paint this monster in any kind of positive light.

Von Braun was a Nazi and likely committed war crimes, most likely the usage of forced labour. But ultimately he himself did not seem to hold the Nazi ideology that close to heart. He was especially alienated after his arrest by the Gestapo.

The man lacked principles, and seemed fine with using slave labour as long as he could play rocketman. A shitstain, sure. Nonetheless, he doesn’t appear to have held any (strong) racial prejudices, afaik not even antisemitism or something.

What I was pointing out is that the shitstains in Alabama were even more racist than the former Nazi immigrants were. So even if Hans turned out to be a racist shitstain, that might not necessarily be because his dad was; it might also be caused by the racists that were around during his upbringing.

I’m not sure what that citation you mentioned contains, but the context it’s used in makes it a little ambiguous:

Appealing to the authorities to reclaim property that people believed was unlawfully taken by local officials in the weeks right after the war was also dangerous. After all, investigations would ensue, which could backfire on those who had sought justice from the state. When F. Borisevich from Slutsk (eastern Belorussia) wrote a letter to Ponomarenko, complaining that NKVD officers had taken several of her possessions, among them money and clothes, the Slutsk authorities began to look into the issue. They found out that Borisevich’s husband had been arrested in 1937 and sentenced to forced labor. During the war, Borisevich had shared a house with two local policemen—one of them her grandson, who stole from “partisan and Jewish families.” Slutsk authorities concluded that she had acquired most of her possessions unlawfully during the war, and they decided to pass the case on to a higher court

So either dad did steal from partisans or Jews, or he was merely tried for doing so after seeking justice from authorities. The timeline is weird though, when would this case have taken place? In 1945 he had already left for Germany, so how was he tried by the Soviets? Or was he tried in his absence? Or is that citation referring to a different person?

Spakovsky ended up in Huntsville, likely to join the rest of the Germans who went there. He was a sociologist, not a rocket scientist, so maybe not a priority for operation Paperclip or something.

It’s really hard to find somewhat accurate information on this guy. He seems to have been part of the White Army fighting the bolsheviks until the left for Yugoslavia. He taught there until 1941, when Germany invaded Yugoslavia. He stayed in the country until 1942 or 1945 (unclear), when he left for Bavaria. If the latter, it’s possible he tried to avoid Operation Keelhaul which would have seen him forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union.

After the war he was in an American-run camp for displaced German peoples, where he met Hans mother. They left for the US in 1950/1951 and settled in Huntsville. Since he was connected to the University of Alabama (and was a professor in sociology before the war), it seems likely that he was somewhat connected to Von Braun, who was also important in elevating the UoA.

Interestingly, it’s said that Von Braun and his fellow German scientists were more progressive than the Americans there. Von Braun was threatened by the KKK for a while because he hired black people.

But the timeline is shaky. Hans claims that his dad fought communists in Russia and Yugoslavia (specifically Tito’s), but it’s unclear when he did so. If he left for Germany in 1942 he couldn’t have fought Tito’s communists because he wasn’t around.

Presumably if he was around in this period, he likely due to his nobleman origin would have been part of the Chetniks, who had a complicated relationship with the Axis. Not quite Nazis, but plenty of war crimes to go around still.

But the most credible source I could find claims he left for Germany in 1942, seemingly making it impossible for him to have been part of the Chetniks. Which raises the question: who did he even fight, if anyone at all? He seems to have consistently moved towards areas where there was less or no fighting at the time (and that he could actually move to). It’s not impossible that he tried to avoid the wars once they reached his doorstep. He was also an anti-communist, which at least could explain the move to Yugoslavia and to Germany if it happened in 1945.

I’m not sure if based on these fragile timelines we can conclusively say or suggest he was part of the Nazis, Chetniks or any other group. The gap in his resume could well be explained by the fact that it’s an academic resume, likely leaving things off if they weren’t relevant to his academic career. Had he worked in a factory in that time for example, it probably wouldn’t have been listed either.

We do know that his son’s a fascist shitstain though. Whether he himself was a Nazi is highly unclear given the contradicting timelines and statements.

Count the fingers on the hand holding the bottle.

The blinds are slightly changed from the original, but that one does also have an admittedly poor view on the window behind it.

I mean her hands do look a little strange, especially the one holding the bottle. And there’s no window behind the blinds it seems. So it ain’t perfect yet.

AI generated

If you have an ASRock mobo, update the bios. Otherwise, you should be fine.

Personally I do have to agree though, the website itself looks kinda scuffed.

Took me a sec but it’s Andy Jassy, CEO of AWS.

Roblox uses children as unpaid labour to produce content for their platform, as well as the risk your kid runs into nazis or pedophiles on the platform. That used to be rampant, not sure if they’ve managed to get a grip on that now.

The only historical revisionist here is you.