And Stalin being part of it..and his image pl;aying a major role in the celebration...should give anyone good reason to question joining the celebration.
Hitler was a major contributor to the success of Mercedes...
If Hitlers image were used in a centennial celebration for Mercedes, would you question those that participated?
I should add....this is a really inappropriate metaphor.
USSR lost 9 million in military casualties and 19 million in civilian deaths (including the horrific seige of Leningrad). I don't think we, in this country can comprehend that level of destruction. While that doesn't minimize what Stalin did, the WW2 victory is a HUGE deal in Russia, and in Europe. More so then it is in the US, where we were not so directly touched with 300,000 military deaths, and zero civilian. Perhaps because of that it's impossible to understand what that means to Russia and Europe.