I don’t really understand what is meant by “the months of Hitler’s occupation” — occupation of what? And what months?
Hitler didn’t invade/occupy Russia but the Soviet Union, but that fact notwithstanding, Operation Barbarossa launched in June of 1941 and the Germans weren’t pushed out of Stalingrad until February of 1943.
> Hitler didn’t invade/occupy Russia but the Soviet Union
You seem to be really straining to split hairs here.
Russia was part of the USSR as the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic [0].
In any case, people in the West commonly referred to the USSR colloquially as simply "Russia." Example: Churchill famously said in October 1939 (just after Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland) that "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest." [1]
The reason Churchill talked about “Russia” is because he was alluding to the historical Tsarist Russia, which from his perspective wasn’t very different. That’s not the same thing as people in general just calling the Soviet Union “Russia”, this was a time of great political upheaval and most people regardless of education in Europe were aware of the Russian revolution and their change in leadership, just as they were aware of the changes in Germany.
I also find it fascinating that I’m downvoted for making a point that I myself concede, and that the rest is simply ignored. My real question was: what “months” are being referred to here?
> The Soviet Union was still a union of different countries.
Calling it "a union" may be a bit misleading for people who don't know Russia's history. The countries in USSR were formerly (before the Bolschevik revolution) territories of the Russian Empire, which were conquered by Russia and then mostly held against people's will.
The Soviet Republics, created after the Revolution, were artificial creations, as they were completely powerless (all power was coming exclusively from Moscow). They were created to sell the international public opinion on the idea of USSR being the universal "worker's republic", containing many nations, which will soon be joined by Soviet republics of Poland, Germany, France etc.
If the legal status of the soviet union wasn't a federal union, it's constituents could've not broke up by the end of the 80s.
Legal status matters, even when it is a facade. Another example: even though power was very centralized in Mussolini's hands in Italy, Italy was still a monarchy and the king could depose Mussolini in 1943.
Also, the fact that power was very centralized, does not change the fact that countries still operated autonomously and there's no reason to believe censuses would not be counted differently in the different republics.
Hitler didn’t invade/occupy Russia but the Soviet Union, but that fact notwithstanding, Operation Barbarossa launched in June of 1941 and the Germans weren’t pushed out of Stalingrad until February of 1943.