Then
On the surface, the countryside and villages were picturesque and stuck in time. We met Ukrainians who were friendly and curious; some who seemed suspicious; and then there was the local bank teller who inquired whether one of our producers was single, as she saw him come daily to collect gobs of cash via Western Union. [Credit cards – not accepted.]
Now
On the surface, the countryside and villages were picturesque and stuck in time. We met Ukrainians who were friendly and curious; some who seemed suspicious; and then there was the local bank teller who inquired whether one of our producers was single, as she saw him come daily to collect gobs of cash via Western Union. [Credit cards – not accepted.]
Sonia’s husband’s story of survival
Sima’s husband’s story of survival
Map of Stermer’s Home Village, Karlowftka
created by Sam and Lila Stermer
Americans call the Second World War “The Good War.” But before it even began, America’s wartime ally Josef Stalin had killed millions of his own citizens—and kept killing them during and after the war. Before Hitler was finally defeated, he had murdered six million Jews and nearly as many other Europeans. At war’s end, both the German and the Soviet killing sites fell behind the iron curtain, leaving the history of mass killing in darkness.
Bloodlands is a new kind of European history, presenting the mass murders committed by the Nazi and Stalinist regimes as two aspects of a single history, in the time and place where they occurred: between Germany and Russia, when Hitler and Stalin both held power. Assiduously researched, deeply humane, and utterly definitive, Bloodlands will be required reading for anyone seeking to understand the central tragedy of modern history.
For more about Ukraine during World War 2 Read Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
