Saw a lot of people call the deportations of Tatars in the USSR a genocide. I know that the Tatars collaborated with the Axis but was it necessary to deport so many of them? Many of them not having directly collaborated with the Axis. Im on board with punishing those who actively collaborated with the Nazis but from what i have heard of, this was unnecessary
The tragedy with the Crimean Tartars was that they were deported based on heritage, even those who were loyal red army combatants. I'm not saying the situations are a perfect equivalence, but it's the same rationale the US used to intern Japanese-Americans, which communists have always rightfully criticized. Whether it was necessary or not is debatable but it always troubles me whenever I encounter blanket apologism for the action or communists embracing the reasoning.
In addition, those deported were not allowed to resettle in Crimea for 2 decades after the war. We can still support the legacy of the USSR while still acknowledging that this is a blemish.