Synopses & Reviews
Just days after the Germans surrendered at Stalingrad, legendary Red Army sniper Vasily Zaytsev described the horrors he witnessed during the five-month long conflict: and#147;one sees the young girls, the children who hang from trees in the park... I have unsteady nerves and I'm constantly shaking.and#8221;
He was being interviewed, along with 214 other men and womenand#151;soldiers, officers, civilians, administrative staffers and othersand#151;amidst the rubble that remained of Stalingrad by members of Moscowand#8217;s Historical Commission. Sent by the Kremlin, their aim was to record a comprehensive, historical documentary of the tremendous hardships overcome and heroic triumphs achieved during the battle.
20 soldiers of the 38th Rifle Division vividly recount how they stumbled upon the commander of the German troops, Field Marshal Friederich Paulus, defeated and hiding in a bed that reeked like a latrine. A lieutenant colonel remembers the brave 20 year-old adjutant who wrapped his arms around his commanderand#8217;s body to protect him from a flying grenade. Working around the clock, Nurse Vera Gurova describes a 24 hour period during which her hospital received over than 600 wounded men and#150; equivalent to one every two and an half minutes. Countless soldiers endured shrapnel wounds and received blood transfusions in the trenches, but she canand#8217;t forget the young amputee who begged her to avenge his suffering at Stalingrad.
This harrowing montage of distinct voices was so candid that the Kremlin forbade its publication and consigned the bulk of these documents to a Moscow archive where they remained forgotten for decades, until now. Jochen Hellbeckand#8217;s Stalingrad is a definitive portrait of perhaps the greatest urban battle of the Second World Warand#151;a pivotal moment in the course of the war re-created with absolute candor and chilling veracity by the voices of the men and women who fought there.
Review
and#147;...A book whose heroic rhetoric and rhythms match the heroism of the people of Stalingrad...This is a stunning historyand#133;and#8221;
and#151;Boston Globeand#147;Intriguing and grippingand#133; Hellbeck's selections vividly depict the battle of Stalingrad in all its horror and heroism.and#8221; and#151;Winnipeg Free Press
and#147;[A] compelling new history of the Battle of Stalingradand#133;and#8221; and#151;Washington Free Beacon
and#147;Jochen Hellbeck recasts our understanding of the and#145;Russian wayand#8217; of waging war. He comes as close as will ever be possible to capturing the peculiar culture of Soviet soldiers in their devastating struggle against the German invaders, who were as feared as they were loathed.and#8221; and#151;Michael Geyer, Samuel N. Harper Professor of History, University of Chicago
and#147;This candid and comprehensive view of the battle of Stalingrad through the eyes of participants captures the brutality these soldiers endured and adds a new dimension to recent scholarship on this most terrible of struggles.and#8221; and#151;Colonel David M. Glantz, US Army (ret.), editor-in-chief of The Journal of Slavic Military Studies
and#147;Like no other recent book on the war, Stalingrad forces readers to look at the open wounds of others. You wonand#8217;t be able to avert your eyes.and#8221; and#151;Sand#252;ddeutsche Zeitung
and#147;We hear the live voices of eyewitnesses as they candidly talk about the tragedy of retreat, the joy of victory, the courage and the sacrifices of the cityand#8217;s defenders, and day-to-day events of the great battle.and#8221; and#151;Alexander Boroznyak, author of Cruel Memory: the Nazi Empire and Germans Today
and#147;Revelatory.and#8221; and#151;Vesti (Russian TV)
Synopsis
The turning point of World War II came at Stalingrad. Hitlerand#8217;s soldiers stormed the city in September 1942 in a bid to complete the conquest of Europe. Yet Stalingrad never fell. After months of bitter fighting, 100,000 surviving Germans, huddled in the ruined city, surrendered to Soviet troops.
During the battle and shortly after its conclusion, scores of Red Army commanders and soldiers, party officials and workers spoke with a team of historians who visited from Moscow to record their conversations. The tapestry of their voices provides groundbreaking insights into the thoughts and feelings of Soviet citizens during wartime.
Legendary sniper Vasily Zaytsev recounted the horrors he witnessed at Stalingrad: and#147;You see young girls, children hanging from trees in the park.[...] That has a tremendous impact.and#8221; Nurse Vera Gurova attended hundreds of wounded soldiers in a makeshift hospital every day, but she couldnand#8217;t forget one young amputee who begged her to avenge his suffering. and#147;Every soldier and officer in Stalingrad was itching to kill as many Germans as possible,and#8221; said Major Nikolai Aksyonov.
These testimonials were so harrowing and candid that the Kremlin forbade their publication, and they were forgotten by modern historyand#151;until now. Revealed here in English for the first time, they humanize the Soviet defenders and allow Jochen Hellbeck, in Stalingrad, to present a definitive new portrait of the most fateful battle of World War II.
About the Author
Jochen Hellbeck is a professor of history at Rutgers University and a specialist in twentieth-century Russia. His previous book, Revolution on My Mind, explored personal diaries written in the Soviet Union under Stalin. The German edition of Stalingrad won a DAMALS prize for best historical study of the year. Hellbeck runs a website, facingstalingrad.com, that features portraits and interviews taken with German and Russian veterans of the battle of Stalingrad. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.