Riga Serhij Zhadan takes a photo with his ska band “Zhadan i Sobaky”, Zhadan and the Dogs. The seven are standing in front of the sign for the Kharkiv region, the sun, golden yellow, is shining on their faces, but their eyes are still serious. The photo is part of his February 24 entry, the day of the Russian attack on Ukraine. “We will play all our concerts later,” writes Zhadan, “after our victory.”
Serhij Zhadan is an author and musician. In “Heaven over Kharkiv” he describes in the form of short messages from social networks how he experienced the beginning of the war in his city. Unembellished and pragmatic, his messages are based on what the community needs: Which neighbors need medication? Who needs food brought to? Who takes care of the pets of those who fled? In this way, “Sky over Kharkiv” is both a portrait of the second largest city in Ukraine and of the voluntary civilians who take care of the community and whose efforts prevent the social infrastructure from collapsing.
Zhadan’s book reminds us of the need to put oneself in the shoes of the people of Ukraine through reading – and thus to understand the war from their point of view. Countless books pick up on the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Handelsblatt presents three titles that are particularly helpful in understanding the situation. In this case, the Ukrainian perspective, that of the victims of the war.
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In his book, Zhadan makes it clear, authentically and directly, how perseverance can succeed: calls for collective help follow concert announcements, descriptions of encounters with soldiers who have come from the front, in between one collects tools, clothing, protective vests. A helper with whom he has only worked for a short time is shot.
Serhij Zhadan: Sky over Kharkiv
Suhrkamp
Berlin 2022
239 pages
20 Euros
Translation: Sabine Stöhr, Jurij Durkot, Claudia Dathe
News that suggest courage and a zest for action, in which the desire for self-determination is no empty phrase, are followed by articles that speak of desperation. As Zhadan observes his changing city, the reader observes the changing author.
“Sky over Kharkiv” is proof that literature can take many forms. Zhadan’s eloquence, a mixture of poetry, short messages and song lyrics as a contrast to the brutality of the experience, makes the content bearable. “We evacuated the bombed-out studio,” he wrote in April. “It hit, but the machines and instruments survived. A new day, a new song.”
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At the same time, the language is raw, sometimes violent. It is also controversial that Zhadan was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade this year. On March 1, he writes: “The Russians are not an army, they are criminals,” he openly describes his hatred of “the Russians.” Zhadan’s synonymous term “pigs” is at the milder end of the attributions.
From hate rising
Sergej Gerassimo also lived in Kharkiv at the time. “Fire Panorama” is also a war diary, but in a completely different way. In his book, which he himself describes as “quickly written”, Gerassimo packs life during the war into individual, partly closed, partly open stories – for example about the neighbor who Heavy metal music fights going insane in war and only sleeps in the bathtub for fear of splinters.
It is remarkable how Gerassimo also looks at Russia. “I dream in Russian and English, but never in Ukrainian,” he writes. “And even now that the Russians are dropping bombs and rockets on my city and killing people who mostly speak Russian, think Russian and dream Russian, I don’t think Russians are bad people.”
Sergei Gerasimov: Fire panorama
dtv
Munich 2022
256 pages
22 euros
Translation: Andreas Breitenstein
He clearly analyzes how nationalism, patriotism, and obeying authority work in times of war, while describing stories from everyday wartime life: queuing, transporting food, watching animals.
Gerassimo also writes about the emerging hatred. “I think I feel the first rush of hatred when I see the news about a Russian pilot who dropped bombs over my head and managed to eject himself from the cockpit after his plane was hit.” A new feeling : “I don’t think I’ve ever really hated anyone in my life.”
An image of despair
At the same time, the country’s president travels virtually around the world to persuade other states to support his country. There are already a few collections of speeches by the President, but Selenski put them together himself.
The texts are an image of despair on a political level. Reading these texts in retrospect means going back to the moments when one first learned of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Volodomir Zelensky: Embassy from Ukraine
Settlers publishing house
Munich 2022
160 pages
16 euros
Translation: Christiane Bernhardt, Gisela Fichtl
The contents are carefully linked to the history of the respective country or institution. In retrospect, they raise important questions that will occupy the international community for decades to come: Did the international community act fast enough? Determined enough? Ignored the warning signs?
His speech to the Bundestag was also haunting, and his clear words about German companies that continue to do business with Russia. In the speech, Zelensky recalled the call for preventive sanctions that Ukraine had previously made.
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“We asked for sanctions that would let the aggressor feel your power,” he tells MPs. “What we saw was your hesitation. We encountered resistance. And we understood that you want to keep the economy going. Economics and economics again.”
Zhadan, Gerassimo and Selenski do not deliver history books and historical treatises, as do the highly readable and important works of historians such as Timothy Snyder or Karl Schlögel. But the experiences of those people who still live in this war every day are just as important in understanding it.
More: War against Ukraine: Inside Views of the Russian Military Apparatus