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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
A tragic story of the extermination of four million Ukrainians by Stalin. I'm also interested in those who step forward to execute history's dirty deeds, then and now.
This has been one of the most difficult and sad books I've ever read. To know that humans are capable of such evil and that this happened is heartbreaking. And worst: that it's happening AGAIN - it seems we learn nothing and are doomed to repeat history.
Stalin wanted to make Ukraine become Russian by force and in order to do that, he created the famine, called Holodomor (Holod = hunger, Mor = extermination) to eliminate the Ukrainian language, culture, resistance and will to live as an independent nation/society in 1932-1933.
Applebaum does a superb job in telling the story as it happened, which is even more remarkable when we think about the lengths that Stalin and the Russian Government went to deny it ever happened. Hunger kills slowly - people became ill, hallucinated, resorted to cannibalism, died walking, standing, on the floor. You can almost see them as the author describes the horror and what people who saw what happened described. Stalin and his minions terrorized the poor Ukrainians in such a way that they were incentivized to denounce each other as hiding grains so they could get some food. Trust, confidence, the society was completely destroyed.
I also learnt that the Jews were not as impacted at first since they were forbidden to work in the farms and these were the people mostly impacted. My friend is Ukrainian and she was shocked when I told her about this book because her family never talked about it but then we realised that they are Jews living in the big city and that explains why they wouldn't know or wouldn't want to talk about it. It was a horrendous time and many people who survived blocked it from their minds or were made to be quiet since there was severe punishment if they talked about it.
It also explains something we see today: this stupid association of Ukrainians being Nazis comes from the time when Stalin joined the Alliance to fight Hitler. When the Germans arrived in Ukraine they were received well at first since the people were starving and thought anything was better than Stalin. Things rapidly changed as they realised that Hitler was also only interested in their grains and land and started to murder Jews. These poor people don't catch a break.
After the war, any attempt from the Ukrainians to talk about the Holodomor would be received as them being Nazis and we can see Putin using the same rhetoric. It's not new and it comes from the WWII. Disgusting propaganda being used again.
When I said in the beginning that what happened is happening again I am referring to the tentative of Russia to exterminate the Ukrainian culture, language and society to take over the land. The use of propaganda, projecting Russian faults to the Ukrainians, blaming the victim - it's all there. Putin is using the same playbook from hell. It won't work as it didn't work in the first time.
It is also not surprising that Putin got so pissed and caught off guard when he wasn't received with open arms even by the Ukrainians that speak Russian. Stalin tried very hard to replace the Ukrainians with Russians and to make the Ukrainians adopt the Russian language as one of the ways to destroy their culture and sense of identity. But the Ukrainians are strong, resourceful and resilient. Putin is not using the Holodomor but here we have once again the poor Ukrainians fighting for their lives and right to exist in their own land because Russia decided Ukraine cannot exist as an independent state.
This book is phenomenal and sad. It describes famine in such clear way that it breaks your heart. It's not a book for the faint of hearts. It also gives us hope for Ukraine. They went through absolute hell during Stalin's time, with the Holodomor, Nazi invasion, then the Chernobyl disaster and two Russian invasion. But they still stand strong.
Stalin wanted to make Ukraine become Russian by force and in order to do that, he created the famine, called Holodomor (Holod = hunger, Mor = extermination) to eliminate the Ukrainian language, culture, resistance and will to live as an independent nation/society in 1932-1933.
Applebaum does a superb job in telling the story as it happened, which is even more remarkable when we think about the lengths that Stalin and the Russian Government went to deny it ever happened. Hunger kills slowly - people became ill, hallucinated, resorted to cannibalism, died walking, standing, on the floor. You can almost see them as the author describes the horror and what people who saw what happened described. Stalin and his minions terrorized the poor Ukrainians in such a way that they were incentivized to denounce each other as hiding grains so they could get some food. Trust, confidence, the society was completely destroyed.
I also learnt that the Jews were not as impacted at first since they were forbidden to work in the farms and these were the people mostly impacted. My friend is Ukrainian and she was shocked when I told her about this book because her family never talked about it but then we realised that they are Jews living in the big city and that explains why they wouldn't know or wouldn't want to talk about it. It was a horrendous time and many people who survived blocked it from their minds or were made to be quiet since there was severe punishment if they talked about it.
It also explains something we see today: this stupid association of Ukrainians being Nazis comes from the time when Stalin joined the Alliance to fight Hitler. When the Germans arrived in Ukraine they were received well at first since the people were starving and thought anything was better than Stalin. Things rapidly changed as they realised that Hitler was also only interested in their grains and land and started to murder Jews. These poor people don't catch a break.
After the war, any attempt from the Ukrainians to talk about the Holodomor would be received as them being Nazis and we can see Putin using the same rhetoric. It's not new and it comes from the WWII. Disgusting propaganda being used again.
When I said in the beginning that what happened is happening again I am referring to the tentative of Russia to exterminate the Ukrainian culture, language and society to take over the land. The use of propaganda, projecting Russian faults to the Ukrainians, blaming the victim - it's all there. Putin is using the same playbook from hell. It won't work as it didn't work in the first time.
It is also not surprising that Putin got so pissed and caught off guard when he wasn't received with open arms even by the Ukrainians that speak Russian. Stalin tried very hard to replace the Ukrainians with Russians and to make the Ukrainians adopt the Russian language as one of the ways to destroy their culture and sense of identity. But the Ukrainians are strong, resourceful and resilient. Putin is not using the Holodomor but here we have once again the poor Ukrainians fighting for their lives and right to exist in their own land because Russia decided Ukraine cannot exist as an independent state.
This book is phenomenal and sad. It describes famine in such clear way that it breaks your heart. It's not a book for the faint of hearts. It also gives us hope for Ukraine. They went through absolute hell during Stalin's time, with the Holodomor, Nazi invasion, then the Chernobyl disaster and two Russian invasion. But they still stand strong.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
Sheila Fitzpatrick's ring quite true on this book, coming off as fundamentally sound despite Applebaum doing her best to take back that perception at certain points.
Reading this book while the 2022 Ukrainian war is raging gives it a much deeper significance. The importance of Ukraine on the European and world stages today is undeniable. It is a must read for anyone looking to better understand the Ukrainian will to fight.
dark
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
A horrifying book, made even more relevant by current headlines (as I write these words in 2022, Russia has once again invaded Ukraine and is once again perpetrating unspeakable violations of human rights and basic decency, and using many of the same strategies and tactics described in this book). This is the story of the Holodomor: the famine in the Ukraine in 1933 caused by Russian Soviet planning, used by them, denied by them, and ultimately "justified" by them as a result of the struggle against fascism, with the claim that anyone who talks about what happened is secretly a Nazi. Since most of these justifications were used again and again through Soviet history, then by Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and again in 2014, it is possibly not surprising, though horrifying, to hear it echoed again right now, in 2022 - Russians claim Ukrainians are "Nazis " and "fascists" and that Russians are just invading to "liberate" the land from such evil - all while perpetrating a genocide on the scale we associate with ACTUAL fascists. The attempts by Russia to claim that Ukraine is "actually" Russian, or a colony of Russia (when, historically, the Rus' claimed as the common ancestors were Ukrainians who then forged Russia). the attempts to stamp out Ukrainian language and culture, the death of 4.5 million in Ukraine in the Holodomor due to the deliberate policies of the Russians to "empty" the land so it could be settled by Russians, and the attempt to cover it all up, over and over and over . . . Well, it is a hard book to read. But worth it.
Applebaumin 2017 julkaistu teos on jopa nyt ajankohtaisempi kuin julkaisuhetkellään. Erittäin hyvin ja sujuvasti kirjoitettu teksti kiinnostavasta, joskin aivan kammottavasta aiheesta. Kirja ei keskity pelkästään kuvaamaan Stalinin aiheuttamaa nälänhätää, vaan muitakin Neuvostoliiton ajamia sorto- ja mustamaalaustoimia ukrainalaisia vastaan. Tästä teoksesta saa käsityksen siitä, miten tämän päivän tilanteeseen on tultu ja mitä Venäjä mahdollisesti haluaa tai miltä se haluaa suojautua. Tämän luettuaan on aivan ähkyssä siitä kärsimysten määrästä, mitä yhteen eurooppalaiseen kansaan kohdistuu.
Important and timely understanding of Russian hostility to Ukraine
The history covered in this book is horrific, but I still highly recommend it if you want to better understand the current war in Ukraine.