The Germans ate their own dogfood. They honestly believed they were super humans and that the Russians were inferior sub-humans who would be easily conquered.

The Germans ate their own dogfood. They honestly believed they were super humans and that the Russians were inferior sub-humans who would be easily conquered. There's a great documentary called "Russia's War". In the documentary they read out letters home from the Germans troops. In the beginning they are so confident that they are the master race and nothing can stop them. Stalin, on the other hand, never lost touch with reality to the degree that the nazis did. His essay "Marxism and the problem of linguistics", written in the 40s, certainly showed that he was thinking clearly and pragmatically in his later years and hadn't fallen into the bizarre delusions that so many totalitarian dictators do. The problem with Stalin was that he was to rational. He didn't believe in gratitude, compassion or have any response at all to human suffering. He also probably though that the Nazis would behave rationally and be more strategic and instead focus on pummeling Western Europe and not attacking Russia, thus leaving it for Stalin's easy conquest.