Between East and West

An excellent exploration of Eastern European nations after the collapse of the Soviet Union. All the stories are of the personal experiences of individuals who interacted with the author. This book shows why Anne Applebaum has become a must read author.

Der Historiker Timothy Snyder hat sie Bloodlands genannt, die Länder zwischen Deutschland und Russland.Die polnisch-amerikanische Journalistin Anne Applebaum nennt sie, historisch korrekt "Grenzland". (Das ist auch die Bedeutung von "Ukraine".) Es ist ein Gebiet, in dem die Völker sich gegenseitg massakrierten, in die fremde Armeen einfielen, Deutsche, Türken, Russen. In dem ständig Grenzen verschoben wurden, Menschen in den sibirischen GULag oder in KZs transportiert wurden, falls sie nicht auf der Stelle erschossen wurden, wie einige tausend polnische Offiziere von den Sowjets oder 30.000 Juden von den Deutschen in Kiew.Die Zaren und die Kommunisten hatten ein Riesenreich erobert, in dem trotz gegenteiliger Propaganda, jede nationale Besonderheit verboten war.Anne Applebaum reist 1994, also kurz nach der Auflösung der Sowjetunion 1990/91, von Kaliningrad nach Vilnius, nach Lemberg, nach Brest, in die Karpaten, Czernowitz und Odessa. Überall sieht sie Spuren früherer kultureller Blüte, aber auch den Verfall, die architektonische Einfalt sowjetischer StädteSie unterhält sich mit Menschen, die russisch gelernt haben und die Sprache ihrer Vorfahren vergessen mussten. Die in Dörfern leben, die mehrfach durch Grenzverschiebungen unter eine neue Herrschaft gerieten, aber ohne Perspektive auf die Verbesserung ihrer Lebensumstände bleiben. Manche ehemalige Sowjetrepublik hatte sich schon selbständig erklärt, noch gibt es nicht überall neue Grenzzäune. Geschäftemacher leben von Schmuggel und Erpressung.Aber nicht nur die biographischen Notizen zeichnen das Buch aus. Die Lektüre führt auch zu einem vertieften Verständnis der Geschichte dieser Nationen, besonders der Ukraine. Die Zaren und die Sowjetführer hatten ein riesiges Kolonialreich errichtet, in dem die einzelnen Nationen, ihre Sprachen, ihre Kultur russifiziert wurden, inklusive der dazu passenden Gechichtslegende von den belarussischen und ukrainischen "Kleinrussen", den Brudervölkern, auf die man gleichwohl verächtlich herabsieht.Obwohl vor 25 Jahren geschrieben, ist es eine wertvolle Hilfe zum Verstehen der aktuellen Ereignisse, dem Überfall Putins 2022 auf die Ukraine, und zum Erkennen der Geschichtslegende, die dazu gestrickt wird.

This is a reissue of a book describing a trip from Kaliningrad to Odessa across the 'border' republics as the Soviet Union comes to an end and its European empire about to collapse. Applebaum is both a marvellous journalist and historian and combines her talents with her knowledge of Polish and Russian to construct a riveting account. It is all the more fascinating to read it in light of knowledge of developments over the last 25 years. Do not miss! Dave Willow

"Travel here demands a forensic passion, not merely a love of art or architecture or natural beauty; there are many layers of civilisation in the borderlands, and they do not lie neatly on top of one another. A ruined medieval church sits in the site of a pagan temple, not far from a mass grave surrounded by a modern town. There is a castle on the hill and a Catholic church at its foot and an Orthodox church beside a ruined synagogue. A traveler can meet a man born in Poland, brought up in the Soviet Union, who now lives in Belarus - and he has never left his village."As I read Anne Applebaum's introduction I thought "Every historian, every politician should read this in order to understand the damage that ignorance about a place can do. Every historian and politician should read this to understand the complexity of a place." In just a few superb paragraphs Anne paints a picture of persecution, subjugation and the search for identity that must be a part of ALL histories but dominates that of these ethnically-cleansed lands in which cultural genocide is the norm.I was reminded of the time when, in the early 1990s, countries in the former Soviet Block sought their independence and often fought to establish what they felt was rightfully their heritage, English colleagues of mine, wrapped in the comfort of almost a thousand years of security and national identity, would sit baffled and in condemnation of what they saw as this pettiness. They had that same patronising attitude that they often reserve for the Welsh and the Scots when they try to retain a little of what makes them them.Anne Applebaum is a very good writer - she has a comfortable way of grabbing one's attention and holding it. In her section on Kaliningrad it is almost as if one is in a spy story by le Carre. Her description of a failed society lies in that ruined city and the decrepit hotel where she stays, with its poor construction, plumbing and lively cockroach. The Soviet Union was always going to fail and once it did it would always resemble something out of a post-apocalyptic movie.She writes dispassionately in that she does not take sides, nor does she pass judgement; she observes and records. Being an "outsider" she is able to disassociate herself from the hopes, dreams and myths in a way that almost disappoints those of us exiles who are looking for reinforcement of our illusions - she is a blast of fresh air.She observes the tragedy of rivalry and hatred between the Lithuanian Poles and ethnic Lithuanians. Was it always like this or has it grown out of the years of living apart, the evil of Russification and as a result of the growth of Nationalism? One becomes aware of small communities harking back to a past that was brutally and crudely torn out or eradicated by either the Nazis, the Soviets or, in the worst of cases, both.Sadness permeates. The book is full of conflict as neighbours contest land, contest history, contest the ownership of poets and heroes. Anne Applebaum is a wonderful observer; her stay in Nowogrodek is so evocative of lost glory, lost hope, of decay and poverty, of that hopelessness and neglect one has come to associate with these contested borderlands.Once one crosses the border into Western Ukraine things start to look more familiar. Stories of corruption, dodgy dealings and of the Mafia remind us that we are not only in the borderlands but also at a boundary in time; everything is in a state of flux. This is, in a strange way, a post-apocalyptic world where everyone has to find their new role, where one man is on his way down whilst another is going up, where the exploited suffer whilst the wheelers and dealers grow fat. And the countryside, so evocative of the countryside I saw in Poland at this time, there are poverty, survival, some hope and many ruined dreams made more tragic because of some greater loss.Anne Applebaum writes beautifully. Her easy and evocative prose almost makes her materialise before you and her voice charms images out of the air. Her section on Dobrobych and Bruno Schulz is a masterwork of writing that all aspirants ought to study.This is a strange journey, an exotic journey: from the concrete monstrosities of Kaliningrad and Minsk; through the isolated villages lost in mist, forest and mountains in the South; Kamenets with its Ghormengast castle and the eclectic structures of Czernowitz... this is an alien land. The sense of being on the outer limits of human habitation, on the borderlands of time and place, lingers. It touches your sensibilities like spreading tendrils or cobwebs. There is that sense of time having paused whilst boundaries always shift like rivers breaking their banks in constant flooding... almost surreal. This is a journey that can never be taken again and it ends in beautiful, exciting Odessa. From the cold, concrete Baltic to the warm, exotic sun of the Black Sea and the minarets of Istanbul. Wonderful.Anne travelled this region in 1990-91 (in fact one of the last landmarks she plants for us is the declaration of independence made by Lithuania in February 1991) yet as I was reading the book I was also reading about continuing tensions in the region: tensions between Lithuania and Poland over the rights of Lithuanian Poles; of Polish-speaking Belorussians being persecuted by the Belarus state; of conflict between Eastern and Western Ukraines over the legality of the use of the Russian language. One paragraph among many stands out;'Politics perplexed her. "I am Polish, he is Jewish, and we have been living together for thirty years," Larisa told me, pointing at her husband. "In all of that time I have never figured out what makes him different from me."'

Glad I bought this book, enjoyed it as a bedside read that was hard to put down.I grew up during the Cold War when Eastern Europe was in the news because of the flux and interference, but I never understood anything more than the Soviet presence. This book provided just the right mix of history and insight - with the pleasant surprise of being quite relevant to understanding today's events.It's a good blend of pragmatic history with an interesting backdrop of personal experiences (travel in Eastern Europe during the 90's).