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Putin – due to attend a fireworks display and concert in Volgograd later Saturday – has never denied Stalin’s murderous purges of innocent citizens and deadly forced collectivisation.
But he and other modern leaders have preferred to overlook the disastrous errors in military strategy Stalin made during the war.
And Putin in particular has preached a patriotic message since returning to a third term in the Kremlin last year.
Analysts believe this has helped him maintain support among many of the older middle class voters in the face of the first street protests of his rule among the young.
State media focused their attention on Volgograd throughout the week as they detailed the lavish preparations and Kremlin’s attention to veterans.
The Volgograd commemorations were broadcast live on the national news channels while state television broadcast a new dramatised documentary about the “battle that changed world history”.
ISS broadcast
Afternoon broadcasts also relayed a special message from the Russian crew members of the International Space Station – a tradition usually reserved only for the highest national holidays.
“We extend our wholehearted congratulations,” said ISS member Roman Romanenko.
“We will always be grateful for your feat. Its memory will live on for centuries.”
But not everyone was pleased that this memory now appeared to be once again firmly associated with Stalin’s name.
“This was a mistake,” said a woman who agreed to only give her first name Larisa.
“We are overestimating Stalin’s role in the war,” she said. “He was bloodthirsty.”
Three days ago, Germany marked the 80 year anniversary of Hitler’s rise to power, with Chancellor Angela Merkel urging the Germany public never to allow the apathy that permitted Hitler’s rule to return: “Human rights do not assert themselves on their own; freedom does not emerge on its own; and democracy does not succeed on its own.”
“A dynamic society… needs people who have regard and respect for one another, who take responsibility for themselves and others, where people take courageous and open decisions and who are prepared to accept criticism and opposition,” she said.
Merkel was speaking at the inauguration of an exhibition in Berlin to commemorate eight decades since Hitler became chancellor on January 30, 1933 – an anniversary which has aroused much interest in Germany.
Ninety-year-old Jewish-German author Inge Deutschkron also spoke to the Bundestag on Wednesday, recalling the day 80 year previously when everything changed, the Guardian reports.
Deutschkron recounted a conversation with her mother, when she was told: ”My child, you are a Jew. You belong to a minority and you must defend yourself.”
Additional reporting by Jennifer Wade
Read: Hitler’s rise to power a ‘constant warning’, says Merkel
