Good evening.

There are a few things I'd like to say first. My English concerning essay-writing is very rusty at most. It's not my mother tongue and I haven't practiced it for close to two years now. I will still try to keep it simple and understandable. Secondly I was very worried about the phrasing of my question because it sounds like I am seeking legitimacy for Germany starting a World War. That is totally not the point. The whole point of this post is trying to get a more sound background without any untruths. Lastly the important things are in bold letters. The rest is the obligatory story of leading to the question.

Let me start off by saying that I recently was obsessed with the history behind World War 2. During christmas holidays I got to talk to my grandmother some more and she is the last relative that actually was part of the World War, even though just a teenager. Her husband was both in Norway and at the eastern front. He got really sick in the war - from what my grandmother tells me - and he never really recovered and died in the late 70s. I feel really sad about not being able to see any of my grandfathers which both served during the war and that makes me even more curious about what the background of it all actually was.

I watched a lot of documentations about the German point of view and listened to some interviews with civil population and soldiers.

One of the most recent videos was showing three German soldiers in their late 80s or early 90s probably that got confronted by a Polish woman about the war at some kind of museum. I don't know the presetting, however one of the men said that she should be thankful, because "we saved Europe from a Russian invasion". Now this really got me thinking if there was any truth in it or if it was just him trying to justify the whole war.

There were several comments saying that there is even evidence in literature stating that Russia started to armament and would have rolled over whole Europe within a few years after 1939 if Germany didn't interrupt them by invading theirselves.

Now my question: Is there any real evidence like statistical evidence of armament production, interviews with Russian officers or something that could support this statement or is it a empty phrase?

Thank you to everybody contributing with their answers and helping me get some more insights into this :)

Cheers

Edit: So I have 2 deleted comments and 1 shadowbanned person in my thread. Unlucky me :)