In his book, “Unnatural Deaths in the U.S.S.R.: 1928-1954,” I.G. Dyadkin estimated that the USSR suffered 56 to 62 million “unnatural deaths” during that period, with 34 to 49 million directly linked to Stalin.
and
In “Europe A History,” British historian Norman Davies counted 50 million killed between 1924-53, excluding wartime casualties.
Aleksander Solzhenitsyn also wrote on the matter. His estimate was 60 million in the gulags alone.
Solzhenitsyn collated what was effectively an oral history of the GULAG, not a serious academic study of the numbers, which were largely unavailable until the Soviet archives were opened after the Cold War.
They are counting all Russsian casualties from WW2 as Stalin’s fault in that count. It seems pretty absurd to blame Stalin for Hitler’s genocidal war on the Soviet Union.
I’ve legitimately never heard an estimate that high, and I fucking hate Stalin and the USSR.
Yeah, there are a number of references to be found.
https://www.ibtimes.com/how-many-people-did-joseph-stalin-kill-1111789#%3A~%3Atext=Most+reputed%2C60+million.
Aleksander Solzhenitsyn also wrote on the matter. His estimate was 60 million in the gulags alone.
The only two claims that are close are:
and
Solzhenitsyn collated what was effectively an oral history of the GULAG, not a serious academic study of the numbers, which were largely unavailable until the Soviet archives were opened after the Cold War.
They are counting all Russsian casualties from WW2 as Stalin’s fault in that count. It seems pretty absurd to blame Stalin for Hitler’s genocidal war on the Soviet Union.