As the war in Ukraine drags on, it is difficult not to wonder what Russians themselves think about the return of monuments to people responsible for so much death in so many Russian families. One of the few who’s asked is BBC reporter Steve Rosenberg, who sought opinions about the bloody tyrant in street interviews in Moscow in May. A young Russian man replied that Stalin is “unfairly hated.” A young woman opined that “there is good and bad in everyone.” An older woman said that “Stalin is our history.” Asked explicitly about his millions of victims, her answer echoed the famous closing line of Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot: “Well, it happens. Nobody’s perfect.”

In May, a replica of a monument to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was unveiled in Moscow’s Taganskaya metro station. Just like when the original was installed during Stalin’s rule, passersby can once again admire the man responsible for the deaths of millions . In Russia, monuments to people responsible for mass killings and other Soviet-era crimes are springing up like mushrooms after an autumn rain. A monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky, the ruthless founder of the Bolshevik secret police, was even erected in front of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service headquarters.

In May, a replica of a monument to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was unveiled in Moscow’s Taganskaya metro station. Just like when the original was installed during Stalin’s rule, passersby can once again admire the man responsible for the deaths of millions. In Russia, monuments to people responsible for mass killings and other Soviet-era crimes are springing up like mushrooms after an autumn rain. A monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky, the ruthless founder of the Bolshevik secret police, was even erected in front of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service headquarters.

As the war in Ukraine drags on, it is difficult not to wonder what Russians themselves thin