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wtfisher 's review for:
Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933
by Anne Applebaum
I'm a quarter Ukrainian and a large portion of my academic career focused on 20th-century Europe, including three months studying Russia and the USSR abroad. Even with that background, I don't think I've ever been exposed to any specifically Ukrainian history beyond family stories and walking past the Holodomor memorial in DC. This book, sadly timely in spring 2022, fills a huge gap in my knowledge and I deeply appreciate it. Beyond describing what happened just in 1932-1933, it provides necessary context on the birth of Ukrainian nationalism, what happened in Ukraine in the 1920s, the suppression of Soviet atrocities from the 1930s to the 1990s, and how centuries of Russian/Soviet fear and discrediting of Ukrainian nationalism fed what's currently happening.
It's hard to say if this is a well-balanced history. There's definitely a strong anti-Soviet sentiment, but it honestly seems 100% warranted. I appreciated Appelbaum's embrace of complexity. Ukrainians both experienced atrocities and committed atrocities, were extremely prone to anti-Semitism, and many did initially welcome the Nazis in the 1940s. With both Ukrainian and Jewish heritage, my reaction is just sadness that humans have such a strong tendency to hate others when they're fearful and to hurt others when they've been hurt.
It's hard to say if this is a well-balanced history. There's definitely a strong anti-Soviet sentiment, but it honestly seems 100% warranted. I appreciated Appelbaum's embrace of complexity. Ukrainians both experienced atrocities and committed atrocities, were extremely prone to anti-Semitism, and many did initially welcome the Nazis in the 1940s. With both Ukrainian and Jewish heritage, my reaction is just sadness that humans have such a strong tendency to hate others when they're fearful and to hurt others when they've been hurt.