Customer Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant and Comprehensive
Comment: There are a lot of World War II documentaries out there, but I found this one to be compelling and perhaps authoritative. Terrific images, a clear editorial perspective and excellent editing. Really excellent editing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Footage unavailable anywhere else.
Comment: Yes, yes, yes, we know. The series doesn't cover all the details of Russia's involvement in World War II (or the years leading up to it). And, yes, it does reflect the perspective of the people who put the project together. And, yes, yes, there are other ways to interpret the material. Good grief! Do we really need a lecture on the fact that documentary films are made by people who do, in fact, filter material through their own experiential and cultural viewpoints? Documentaries are not absolute truth; they are interpretive communication.
The point is that this series displays photographs and film footage which have never been available in any format prior to their sifting and presentation in this production.
Surely the people who are carping at the series because they feel that the filmmakers have not presented the entirety of the story can understand the realities of trying to organize literally hundreds (if not thousands) of hours of randomly accumulated footage discovered in heretofore sealed archives in Germany and Russia into a manageable package.
So some of the narration is a little clichéd. So all the details of every event and all aspects of every personality are not fully developed. If you want additional perspective, watch other documentaries. Read some books. But view these programs for what they do offer--an amazing collection of images that expand our understanding of the terrors of both the prewar and wartime events. Bravo to the filmmakers. I guarantee that at least some of these images are going to make your eyes grow wide.
This is an excellent series that fills in some very large blank spots about the Russian side of World War II. No doubt other documentaries will be produced in the future that make use of the same archival material and reach different conclusions, but this was a commendable and ground-breaking effort that should be purchased for every school and community video collection. My only regret is that it is not currently available on dvd. C'mon, PBS; respond to the advancement in technology and publish this series on dvd so that it is more user friendly and can be adapted to wider applications
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Russia's two wars.
Comment: This very fine PBS broadcast details Stalin's War against the Russian People and the German War against the Soviet Union. It seeks to detail these two wars and how it combined cost the Soviet Union 45 million people. Why does it matter? Because in today's world, the Germans are scorned for what they did to the world, but very little is said about what Stalin did to the peoples of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. That is why it matters and why this film series shows Stalin and his henchman for what they really were. This film is not for the weak of heart, as it shows some very disturbing scenes and talks about some very revolting subjects. I watched in amazement as people gloated over a person being hanged.
This is a true horror film starring Stalin and Hitler. It shows mans inhumanity to man. This is very much worth watching.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Best!
Comment: I learned so much from this series! You will want to keep it forever so you can watch it periodically. There is so much info here you will have to watch it more than once to catch it all. The creators of this series really tell it like it was.
Customer Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT! Defintely Worth the Money!
Comment: As a teacher of history I can say with a high degree of certainty that this is THE BEST historical documentary I have come across. Here in North America we tend to have the opinion that we saved Europe on D-day; in fact, 80% of the Nazi casualties were inflicted on them by the Red Army. This tape goes some ways in addressing the historical imbalance that we see.On the down side, they could have found someone more relevant than (and better than) Henry Kissinger to introduce the video. While he may be America's foreign policy "Guru", he is not a historian.
