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sbotelho 's review for:
Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine
by Anne Applebaum
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.