BONES OF BERDICHEV: The Life and Fate of Vasily Grossman [Hardcover]

John Garrard (Author), Carol Garrard (Draft Writer)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 1996

Chronicles the life Vasily Grossman, a Russian Jew and World War II correspondent for the Soviet Army, who evolved from a Marxist supporter into a passionate critic of the new regime and whose voice can finally be heard without the threat of Soviet retaliation. 12,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Legendary WWII Soviet correspondent Vasily Grossman (1905-1964) covered the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk and advanced westward with the Red Army in its drive to Berlin. As he moved across liberated Soviet territory, he came upon the mass graves of Soviet Jews exterminated by the Germans. His accounts of these discoveries?as well as of Treblinka and Majdanek?made him the first journalist to chronicle the Holocaust, note the authors. The event that caused him to confront his Jewishness was learning that one of the 20,000 Jews annihilated at Berdichev, where Grossman was born, was his mother. The authors (Inside the Soviet Writer's Union) use mainly newly available archival material to show that the Holocaust actually began in the Soviet Union, before the death camps of Poland; that the German Wehrmacht was complicitous in the war against the Jews; that collaboration by the Ukrainians with the Germans against the Jews was widespread. This impassioned, meticulously researched story also tells of Grossman's failure to publish his fiction accounts (e.g., Life and Fate) of the war years. The authors break new ground in showing how a single Soviet Jewish journalist came to show the similarity between the totalitarian Nazi and Soviet states. A gripping narrative. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Soviet Jewish writer Vasily Grossman's modest reputation in the West is due to the fact that toward the end of his life (1905^-64), he was effectively transformed into a nonperson by nervous Soviet authorities, and his major works were suppressed. No mere observer, Grossman participated in the most terrible events of this century: World War II, the Holocaust, and Stalin's reign of terror. He spent more than 1,000 days with the Red Army at the front during its struggle against the Germans from 1941 to 1945. It was Grossman who first documented the Holocaust, publishing accounts as early as 1943. Grossman's role as a patriot changed after the massacre of 30,000 Jews in his hometown of Berdichev in 1941 by the Nazis with the help of Ukrainian soldiers. His mother was one of the victims. Grossman's account of Soviet complicity in the extermination of Russia's Jews was hidden by the Communist Party for almost 50 years. The Garrards' revealing biography is based primarily on archival and unpublished sources that have become available only since the collapse of the Soviet regime. Grossman witnessed firsthand much of this century's cruelty and evil; the Garrards have given this nonperson a new life. George Cohen

Product Details

• Hardcover: 437 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (March 6, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684822954
• ISBN-13: 978-0684822952
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,109,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, very impressed, September 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: BONES OF BERDICHEV: The Life and Fate of Vasily Grossman (Hardcover)

I am greatly impressed with this book. I'm an emigrant from the former USSR, Jew myself, and I thought that I know everything about our life, about the war and the suffering of Soviet Jews from Nazi and from the Soviet Communists. But I discovered so many new facts that I never new. I am amazed how deep the authors understoon the reality of Soviet life. I lived in Belorus for years and didn't even hear anything about mass graves of Jews that are everywhere in this country. We were never told about it! I wish this book will be translated into Russian and Ukranian languages. I remember, that Soviet people can hardly knew who's is Vasily Grossman, one of the greatest writers of the century.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nazi conduct of the holocaust and Soviet complicity, May 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: BONES OF BERDICHEV: The Life and Fate of Vasily Grossman (Hardcover)

The book is a basic read for anyone interested in the Holocaust, WWII, Soviet life, and Soviet literature. The Garrard's reveal the quality of Grossman's writings and his personal sacrifices in seeing his opus, Life and Fate, published after being smuggled from the USSR. Accounts in the book of Stalingrad, Nazi crimes in Berdichev, and Grossman's slow literary descent into obscurity will be little read by a complacent Western public more interested in Star Wars than in the trauma that real wars have produced in this century. I was moved by the book and enlightened about the enduring spirit of mankind in the face of repression. Highly recommended!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible find for me, March 20, 2007

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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: BONES OF BERDICHEV: The Life and Fate of Vasily Grossman (Hardcover)

Even having grown up in the USSR, and having some experience with my family and their stories of survival of WW2 and Stalin era, I still found the bok incredible and moving. so did my college-age kids! I would suggest it to more people who are interested in the topic 100%