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The following image is frequently circulating when WWII is discussed:

enter image description here

Poll in France: "In your opinion, which country contributed most to the defeat of Germany in 1945?" (Source: polls IFOP 1945, 1994, 2004, 2015)

According to the image, 57% of of people in France believed that the USSR contributed the most to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, while only 23% shared the same view in 2015. Are there actual statistics to back up this claim?

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    Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Commented Dec 28, 2019 at 12:07

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Yes, it is true

This document (PDF, in french) is a summary of the recent and previous polling by IFOP, written by IFOP and hosted on their website. Page 5 has the question, and a table with answers and percentage choosing each answer.

It appears that the question was "Quelle est, selon vous, la nation qui a le plus contribué à la défaite del’Allemagne en 1945?" and 57% of respondents chose "L’URSS, l’Union Soviétique" when asked in May 1945, dropping to 23% in May 2015. The question in the image seems to be a faithful translation of the original question, given my limited french.

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    I'm French and I confirm that nothing was lost in translation.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Jun 6, 2019 at 23:25
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    wiki suggests that: The battles on the Eastern Front of the Second World War constituted the largest military confrontation in history.[6] They were characterized by unprecedented ferocity, wholesale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life due to combat, starvation, exposure, disease, and massacres. [7] The Eastern Front was decisive in determining the outcome in the European theatre of operations in World War II, eventually serving as the main reason for the defeat of Nazi Germany and the Axis nations.[8][9][10]
    – bandybabboon
    Commented Oct 17, 2019 at 23:39
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    Or to put it another way, we might have thrown lots of money into the war, but the Soviets threw in half their population.
    – Lee Daniel Crocker
    Commented Jan 4, 2022 at 23:50

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