Avete,
I am not going to involve myself in the argument of who was the most brutal, the Soviets or the Germans. I don't put a lot of stock in death tolls, as my research has revealed MANY contradicting claims. The battle of statistics can rage for eternity, and I find that 64% of all statistics are made up on the spot!
But I will say this. While the Russians had no official policy (That I know of) advocating the rape of German women, the Soviet propaganda sure seemed to encourage it to the point that many Red Army soldiers felt that it was okay.
"All of us knew very well that if the girls were German they could be raped and then shot." -Alexander Solzhenitsyn
(Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. The Gulag Archipelago, p.21)
There were signs saying, "You are now on German soil, the hour of revenge has struck." And Ilya Ehrenburg certainly fed the fire of revenge. Here are a few of her quotes.
Referring to German women, Ehrenburg gloated to the advancing Red Army troops, "that blonde hag is in for a bad time."
In a leaflet addressed to Soviet troops, Ehrenburg wrote: "...the Germans are not human beings...nothing gives us so much joy as German corpses." (Anatol Goldberg, Ilya Ehrenburg,)
A leaflet composed by Ehrenburg and signed by Stalin was dropped on Red Army troops approaching Danzig. It read: 'Soldiers of the Red Army! Kill the Germans! Kill all Germans! Kill! Kill! Kill!'
(Christopher Duffy, Red Storm on the Reich).
Yes, the German propaganda regarding the "Untermensch" is comporable, but it wasn't quite so blatant as the above, if those sources are accurate. It seems from my reading that the German atrocities in Russia were more the result of Evil orders and organized groups as opposed to the widespread horrer on the soldiers own initiative. Of course there wer instances, but not quite on the scale of what I have read about in Germany. But, I haven't read everything, so please give me sources. I am willing to change my view if enough evidence is presented.
Valete,
-Spandau
If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze into you.