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reedmessa 's review for:
Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933
by Anne Applebaum
In this well written, though incredibly depressing and disturbing book, Applebaum tells the little told story of the Holodomor, the story of Stalin's man made famine in the Ukraine to break the will and spirit of the Ukrainian people and destroy their heritage and culture and force Sovietization on them.
(Judging by the news, that didn't work out!)
This book is heartbreaking as the world turned a blind eye to the Ukraine largely for political reasons during the 1930's and Western journalists willingly covered up the atrocities in the Ukraine. While the Holodomor does not reach the 'technical' definition of genocide, it was clearly an act of cultural genocide as Russia has for centuries tried to destroy Ukraine's cultural heritage and sense of nationhood.
This book isn't an easy read, as Applebaum does not hold back on just how bad the Holodomor was. And she shouldn't, this story needs to be told to the West in it's rawest and more uncensored form. She really got into how the Soviet state under Stalin allowed this to happen to Ukraine and the reasons why, and the larger view of the Soviet political and social climate on the famine at the time.
This book broke my heart, but in many ways it raised my view of the Ukrainian people. I already admired them for how they've fought off Putin for the last several years, but now knowing how long this has been going on, and how long their heritage and sovereignty has been at war, it made me admire the Ukrainian people more than I already thought I could at just seeing how determined they are to keep their sovereignty and heritage in face of centuries of aggression and brutality.
I highly recommend this to anyone who has any interest in the Ukraine. I will end it with this.
"Long live Ukraine!"
(Judging by the news, that didn't work out!)
This book is heartbreaking as the world turned a blind eye to the Ukraine largely for political reasons during the 1930's and Western journalists willingly covered up the atrocities in the Ukraine. While the Holodomor does not reach the 'technical' definition of genocide, it was clearly an act of cultural genocide as Russia has for centuries tried to destroy Ukraine's cultural heritage and sense of nationhood.
This book isn't an easy read, as Applebaum does not hold back on just how bad the Holodomor was. And she shouldn't, this story needs to be told to the West in it's rawest and more uncensored form. She really got into how the Soviet state under Stalin allowed this to happen to Ukraine and the reasons why, and the larger view of the Soviet political and social climate on the famine at the time.
This book broke my heart, but in many ways it raised my view of the Ukrainian people. I already admired them for how they've fought off Putin for the last several years, but now knowing how long this has been going on, and how long their heritage and sovereignty has been at war, it made me admire the Ukrainian people more than I already thought I could at just seeing how determined they are to keep their sovereignty and heritage in face of centuries of aggression and brutality.
I highly recommend this to anyone who has any interest in the Ukraine. I will end it with this.
"Long live Ukraine!"