Which Regime, Adolf Hitler’s fascist Nazi Germany or Stalin’s communist Soviet Union, was the most illiberal?
Hitler’s regime was definitely more illiberal, because it was openly racist. Moreover, the nazi regime derived much of its original support from the old conservative Junker class. These were the people who forced Hitler to liquidate Roehm in 1934. Roehm had taken the “socialist” aspect of national socialism too seriously. He hoped the new regime would mean better jobs and status for the lower class or downtrodden types he represented. Instead he and the rest of the far left were crushed. Hitler was also more iliberal in that he was truly warlike and hegemonistic, whereas Stalin generally prepared for defense. And despite Stalin’s ruthlessness he basically represented a system which extolled the working class and poor of the world, whereas the nazis championed a racial elite. Stalin may have killed many but he had no plans to wipe out entire racial or ethnic groups, like the nazis.
