Description
"Bringing together dozens of voices in her distinctive style, Last Witnesses is Svetlana Alexievich's collection of the memories of those who were children during World War II. These men and women were both witnesses and sometimes soldiers as well, and their generation grew up with the trauma of the war deeply embedded in them--a trauma that would forever change the course of the Russian nation. This is a new version of the war we're so familiar with. Alexievich gives voice to those whose stories are lost in the official narratives, creating a powerful alternative history from the personal and private experiences of individuals. Collectively, these voices provide a kaleidoscopic portrait of the human consequences of the war"--
Publication
Random House Trade Paperbacks (2020), 320 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member TheCrow2
You cannot really like books like this. Everybody should read a book like this. Stories from the WWII from the last witnesses, those who were small children back then. The monotony of the stories only underlines the common theme of them.... that war is hell.
LibraryThing member Beamis12
Originally released in Russia in the eighties, the translated copy is soon to be released here for what I believe is the first time. If you've read others by this author you know she gathers up first hand accounts of various events and catastrophies, then arranged them with little or no change.
"Then all the colors disappeared. All shades, for the first time the word death appeared; everybody began to repeat this incomprehensible word. And mama and papa weren't there."
"I'm a man without a childhood. Instead of a childhood, I have the war."
"During the war I hadn't seen a single child's thing. I forgot they existed. Children's toys......"
The author beArs witness, she gives those who experienced the unimaginable a place to tell and share their stories, their memories. I applaud her for this. So this isn't an easy read, but along with the horror was kindness, someone who cared when no one else was left that belonged to them.
ARC from Netgalley.
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This book is a heartbreaker as most are when children are concerned. She interviews the now grown people, eliciting from them there memories of war, the Nazi invasion of Russia. There are a range of ages, the youngest was four. She gives their names, what their present occupation is and what age they were in their first remembrances."Then all the colors disappeared. All shades, for the first time the word death appeared; everybody began to repeat this incomprehensible word. And mama and papa weren't there."
"I'm a man without a childhood. Instead of a childhood, I have the war."
"During the war I hadn't seen a single child's thing. I forgot they existed. Children's toys......"
The author beArs witness, she gives those who experienced the unimaginable a place to tell and share their stories, their memories. I applaud her for this. So this isn't an easy read, but along with the horror was kindness, someone who cared when no one else was left that belonged to them.
ARC from Netgalley.
Show Less
LibraryThing member atticusfinch1048
Last Witnesses, Unchildlike Stories – Haunting Witnesses of the Past
Svetlana Alexievich’s fantastic oral history of those witness to the invasion of what was the old Soviet Union. When in June 1941 the Germans entered the new Soviet Union via Eastern Poland, Ukraine, Belarus as they headed
See this war from a child’s point of view is haunting and insightful and strangely memorable. Like most historians there are plenty of post-it-notes now adorning my copy, so that I can emphasise how war affects the innocent. Svetlana was way ahead of her time in recording this oral history, something that is finally coming to the fore in this country.
When you hear the words of Vasia Kharevsky who was 4 years old when the Germans came, stated “I’m a man without a childhood. Instead of a childhood, I have war.” He would have seen events unfold, where as a Slav he was deemed as ‘sub-human’ by the Germans. What happened as the German’s cut through the Soviet Union, had not been seen prior to 1941. This book brings out that history.
Or in the 1980s when interviewed Zina Kosiak, then a hairdresser, was 8 years old when war came. Her story is really the before and after, the after bringing misery and death, before the war happy memories of her family. “I’m already 51 years old. I have children of my own. But I still want my mama.” I recognise that feeling from my Grandfather, who as a Pole, whose relationship with his father ended because of war and exile and did not find out he had survived the war and lived until the 1970s.
One of the most poignant passages is something many families will understand, that once war was over it was rarely talked about. “Papa and mama were sure that there would never again be such a terrible war” fortunately that has held true.
“We are the last witnesses. Our time is ending. We must speak …….. Our words will be the last.”
This book is testament to those who witnessed a brutal war first hand, who are now becoming fewer.
Svetlana Alexievich’s fantastic oral history of those witness to the invasion of what was the old Soviet Union. When in June 1941 the Germans entered the new Soviet Union via Eastern Poland, Ukraine, Belarus as they headed
Show More
north to Leningrad, South to Stalingrad and towards Moscow.See this war from a child’s point of view is haunting and insightful and strangely memorable. Like most historians there are plenty of post-it-notes now adorning my copy, so that I can emphasise how war affects the innocent. Svetlana was way ahead of her time in recording this oral history, something that is finally coming to the fore in this country.
When you hear the words of Vasia Kharevsky who was 4 years old when the Germans came, stated “I’m a man without a childhood. Instead of a childhood, I have war.” He would have seen events unfold, where as a Slav he was deemed as ‘sub-human’ by the Germans. What happened as the German’s cut through the Soviet Union, had not been seen prior to 1941. This book brings out that history.
Or in the 1980s when interviewed Zina Kosiak, then a hairdresser, was 8 years old when war came. Her story is really the before and after, the after bringing misery and death, before the war happy memories of her family. “I’m already 51 years old. I have children of my own. But I still want my mama.” I recognise that feeling from my Grandfather, who as a Pole, whose relationship with his father ended because of war and exile and did not find out he had survived the war and lived until the 1970s.
One of the most poignant passages is something many families will understand, that once war was over it was rarely talked about. “Papa and mama were sure that there would never again be such a terrible war” fortunately that has held true.
“We are the last witnesses. Our time is ending. We must speak …….. Our words will be the last.”
This book is testament to those who witnessed a brutal war first hand, who are now becoming fewer.
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LibraryThing member revchrishemyock
Unbelievably moving accounts of the suffering of children in Russia at the hands of bestial and cruel Germans. I do not think I am ever going to get over this book or ever feel the same about Germany ever again
LibraryThing member Bookish59
Incredibly touching book giving voice to those who were children during WWII.
When someone proposes a war, give them a copy of this book.
The emotional and physical harm these people were forced to endure, and the deplorable losses they suffered changed their lives forever.
While adults could not
Physically weaker than adults they couldn't walk, run or work like adults. Without a regular diet of nutritious foods they could not develop healthfully both physically and mentally. this would have a deleterious effect on them.
Challenging book to read all at once. I had to digest it in small bits.
So devastatingly sad.
When someone proposes a war, give them a copy of this book.
The emotional and physical harm these people were forced to endure, and the deplorable losses they suffered changed their lives forever.
While adults could not
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comprehend the depravity of the war they could at the least consider some limited choices. Children were, of course, more vulnerable and frightened because they were totally reliant on adults and could not control anything. Physically weaker than adults they couldn't walk, run or work like adults. Without a regular diet of nutritious foods they could not develop healthfully both physically and mentally. this would have a deleterious effect on them.
Challenging book to read all at once. I had to digest it in small bits.
So devastatingly sad.
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LibraryThing member brenzi
If you ever get in the doldrums and sit around feeling sorry for yourself about one First World problem or another, read this book to give you a better perspective of what it means to lose so so much. Heartbreaking doesn't begin to cover it. I listened to the audio and it was just excellent as the
It's not the first time I've read about people consuming their pets because they were in a state of starvation (see City of Thieves) but it is the first time I've heard actual first person descriptions of it. The children in the narration were aged from about four to early teens during the war. But believe me, they had no childhood; they were all adults regardless of their age because the horrific events they lived through took away any semblance of childhood.
This is a good book to keep in mind as we watch video footage of the innumerable war situations all over the world and consider the suffering of the children, especially the children.
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narrators took the parts of different Russians who survived the war when they were children. Barely.It's not the first time I've read about people consuming their pets because they were in a state of starvation (see City of Thieves) but it is the first time I've heard actual first person descriptions of it. The children in the narration were aged from about four to early teens during the war. But believe me, they had no childhood; they were all adults regardless of their age because the horrific events they lived through took away any semblance of childhood.
This is a good book to keep in mind as we watch video footage of the innumerable war situations all over the world and consider the suffering of the children, especially the children.
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LibraryThing member larryerick
Can anyone really like this book? It was written in 1985, when most of the people telling their stories in it were probably in their 40s or 50s, for this is a collection of "reports" by former children of the Soviet Union, when Nazi Germany attacked, with the children asked being about 2 years old
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to about 16 years old. Most of the children, from what I can tell were Belarusian. The book I read was a very recent translation from the native language into English. Each story essentially starts with the actual beginning of the war for that child, with a few commenting about how life was as a child just before the attacks. For whatever reason, I found myself thinking back often to Elie Wiesel's book, Night, while reading this. The impact of that book had been deadened quite a bit for me by accounts of treatments of the Jews during the Holocaust from other sources that were much more extensive and graphic than even Wiesel had related, but there was something simple and direct about the Wiesel book that I felt also in the stories by adults telling their childhood stories in this book. To be frank, this book at times seems endless in its reports, one story seemingly blending and blurring into another, but then, every so often, sometimes too often, like a punch in the gut, a child tells about something no child should ever know about, let alone live through. I really cannot relay adequately how bad some of these stories, these moments are. The adults telling these stories are scarred. And yet somehow they were still alive physically, if not entirely emotionally, to tell them some 40 years after the fact. So, here we are the readers, another 35 years later still, trying to make sense of it -- during a global pandemic. Arghh! Show Less
LibraryThing member Ken-Me-Old-Mate
Last Witnesses by Svetlana Alexievich.
I read the English language version.
Having read all of her other books I was naturally drawn to this. Her forté is to collate first hand verbatim accounts. In this case it was recollections of Russian people who were children when war began.
There are no
You must read this book. it will cure you of any rational thoughts about war and its consequences.
I read the English language version.
Having read all of her other books I was naturally drawn to this. Her forté is to collate first hand verbatim accounts. In this case it was recollections of Russian people who were children when war began.
There are no
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sanitised images here. Within 30 pages I had tears running down my face. What kind of creatures are we that subject children to experiences such as those recorded here? As a parent how could I imagine watching my child being driven away or worse, left alone while I was dragged away. How could I imagine spending months looking for my children without knowing if they were even alive.You must read this book. it will cure you of any rational thoughts about war and its consequences.
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LibraryThing member AnnieKMD
The book is made up of numerous short accounts from adults recalling their childhood memories of WWII in Russia. Naturally, these are tragic and heart-breaking. In many cases, they were starving orphans who were often left homeless, not to mention the violence that they witnessed. I listened to the
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audiobook and found that the readers were very effective and made the passages feel that much more real. Show Less
Language
Original language
Russian
Physical description
320 p.; 8 inches
ISBN
0399588760 / 9780399588761