Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #307689 in Books
• Published on: 1990-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

Synopsis
The author describes his experiences during the Ukrainian famine which resulted from the Soviet collectivization of farms in 1929.

Customer Reviews

I recommend this book, brief but well written:
Upon first reading the diary of Anne Frank, I have become interested in other "similar" types of narratives. Miron Dolot certainly gives us a captivating and sometimes heartwrenching account of when Stalin and his henchmen in Moscow carried out this policy against the poor Ukrainians during the early 1930s. This famine did not only effect Ukraine but Kazakhstan and possibly other areas as well. The story of the famine told by a young teenage boy is very insightful. Such a sorrowful chapter of history.

"Harvest of Sorrow" by Robert Conquest is another good book on the same subject. This one, however, is briefer compared to Conquest's book and can be read in the course of a weekend.

Dolot's book should be read by all interested in European history. I also agree, that it should be used in schools.

Heart-rending
In 1929, Joseph Stalin ordered the collectivization of all Ukrainian farms. During the resulting upheaval, some seven million Ukrainians died of starvation. But, while it ended with mass starvation, the Soviet program of oppression started with property confiscation, arbitrary arrests, judicial and extrajudicial murder, and a whole constellation of unspeakable mistreatment.

One of the survivors of this holocaust was a young Ukrainian boy, who survived the conflagration and World War II, and succeeded in escaping to the United States. Written under the pseudonym of Miron Dolot, this heart-rending book tells the story of what he saw throughout the holocaust, and what he felt and thought.

I originally picked up this book because my own family, who were Russian Mennonites, left Ukraine before this time, but all of the relatives that stayed were annihilated to the last man, woman and child. Even so, I dare anyone to read this book and not be moved. The author does an excellent job of bringing the heartless insanity of this holocaust home to right where you live.

So, if you are interested in Russian or Ukrainian history, then I highly recommend this moving book to you.

Joseph Stalin & Soviet Communism rot in hell
The author describes life in his village during this period. Firstly, outsiders, urban dwellers appeared spouting the party line, endlessly calling meetings to browbeat with torrid, repetitive speeches from petty party officials the paradise of collective agriculture over independant farming.

This ultimately culminated in systematic slaughter and banishment of children, women and menfolk to hellish frozen wastelands. Most never ever returned.

The Communist party, not content with starving the populace into submission delved to new petty depths. They took all animals, seeds, machinery, horses, food and anything else the rural population held in high esteem. Pets such as cats and dogs were gunned down on the street. The Ukraine national symbol - the nightingale - unwittingly became the next victim - teams of shooters blasted it out of the sky, whilst Ukrainian farmers and their families starved, very slowly to death.

Read this and do not let the propogandists/politicians of any society lead us to believe what they are saying, let us judge with our own eyes.

Very best wishes to you all