[Leica] RUSSIAN KGB leica?"

[gregj.lorenzo at shaw.ca (GREG LORENZO)]

Walt Johnson writes: 
> 
> Some where in your history class you might have done a bit of 
> napping?  

English Lit? Maybe. History never. Military history? I had already read any 
required texts long before taking the class. Twice or more if really 
interesting.

> Stalin was quite familiar with pulling a trigger and his German 
> counterpoint ( I trust you mean Adolph and not Marlene Dietrich)had 
> his heinie shot off more than once. Again, it seems as if you are 
> confusing them with our own hero/leaders. Most of whom were hiding 
> under the bed when everyone else was busy "defending democracy".
> 

Being familiar with pulling a trigger is a common trait for all the rogues 
of history. Seldom are they prepared to do the dirty work themselves. The 
usual cast of Russian, and later Soviet absolute dictator's usually had 
people to do that for them. One notable Russian exception being Ivan the 
Terrible. They were called the GRU, NKVD, KGB, etc. In Stalin's case, the 
last person to hold the job of head of the secret police was Laventry Beria. 
All of Beria's predecesser's were liquidated by their sucessor's during 
Stalin's reign. Stalin once said 'the only way two people can keep a secret 
is if one of then is dead'. This does not mean that he ever did the job 
himself though. Show me one credible text from a respected historian who has 
supplied references from state sourced archives that has written that Stalin 
personally murdered anyone and I'll be surprised.

There have been rumors that he murdered his wife Nadezhsda Alliluveya, but 
never have I seen where this is anything other than pure conjecture. 
Interestingly she was 'suicided' by being shot in the right temple when she 
was left handed.

As to Herr Wolf (not Marlene), he to my knowledge and considerable study 
came close to possibly shooting someone only once when he is reported to 
have personally arrested Ernst Rohm (head of the SA or Brownshirts)at Rohm's 
hotel room on 'the night of the long knives'. Rohm was actually shot by his 
SS guards whilst behind bars after he was given a pistol and failed to do 
the 'honorable thing'. Same request here; refer me to one credible text with 
refernces per above. 

BTW, Rohm was one of Herr Wolf's oldest comrades and his former unit 
commander in the WWI German Imperial Army, which was relatively speaking, an 
honorable organization that adherred to international conventions of the day.

Got to run now as this is both as incredibly far off of topic, boring to the 
camera and scotch guys and Frontline is on the boob tube covering an 
interesting subject from 1989 that I was lucky enough to have watched in 
real time back then. I'm interested in seeing if they will rewrite history 
so soon.

Regards,


Greg