re: Nazis and Communists

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May be a dumb question but in WWII, why were Germany and Russia on opposing sides?

Naziism and Communism are not very different ideologies both a variation of left wing socialist totalitarianism.

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1) Hitler perceived communism as being a Jewish movement. He was opposed to them because they were trying to get a foot in German politics (there was a large communist movement in Germany prior to Hitler's rise). He also didn't much care about communism's internationalist ideas as Hitler was a nationalist.

2) Germany and Russia had just fought a massive war (WWI) and there would have been little chance of them becoming allies at that point in time.

3) Communists aren't necessarily racists. Hitler's ideology was based on German identity and to a lesser extent "Aryan racial superiority" (though Hitler wasn't as fanatical about the latter as some of his lieutenants like Himmler and Rosenberg).