Regarding the non-invitation of Vladimir Putin to the 70th anniversary Auschwitz liberation commemoration: treating Putin and the present day Russian Federation as equivalent to Joseph Stalin and the USSR in the 1930s and 1940s is egregious. But nevertheless there will indeed be many such efforts throughout this year to truly sweep much of the inconvenient history of that era into the Orwellian dust bin of history. My World History students are finishing viewing The Soviet Story tomorrow and will begin viewing the six part BBC/PBS series, World War Two Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis, and the West. These documentary programs and books are essential for understanding the roots and outcomes of that bloody horrific conflict.

The Best of Charles Burris