Taras' Family

by Boris Gorbatov

Russischen Nationalismus auf der Propaganda-Ebene, in die düstere Heldentum eines Großvaters in Westrussland zurückgelassen, um eine männlich-weniger Familie während der deutschen Besatzung zu führen. Er fühlt sich zuerst von einer Schwiegertochter, die den deutschen Starkarmmethoden erliegt, zum Scheitern verurteilt, in einer Fabrik zu arbeiten; Dann von einem Sohn ein entkommener Kriegsgefangener, der sich dem Feind übergab. Taras 'Hass auf seine Feigheit zwingt ihn zurück an die Front und den Preis eines Helden. Und die Ehre des alten Mannes wird weiter durch eine jugendliche Alters-Tochter aufgehängt für unterirdische Tätigkeiten und durch einen Sohn, ein Parteigeheimdienstmann, der keine Arbeit findet, weil die Partei-Ursache von allen Leuten angenommen wird, bestätigt.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Soviet novelist. Born in the Donbas region in the Ukraine, he moved to Moscow at the age of 18 and joined the Communist Party in 1930. He was a military correspondent during World War Two.

Russian profile: Борис Горбатов

Reviews

[Tomislav · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dieser Roman spielt während der deutschen Besetzung Sowjetrusslands und der Ukraine im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Er beginnt mit der Ankunft der deutschen Armee im Dorf Kamini Brod, wo Taras Jazenko und seine Familie leben. Er erzählt von zunehmend gewalttätiger Unterdrückung im Dorf. In der zweiten Hälfte des Buches werden die Geschichten seiner drei erwachsenen Söhne und seiner Tochter erzählt. Die Geschichte endet mit der Befreiung des Dorfes durch die Rote Armee.

I read the novel in German translation from Russian. German is not my native language. It is possible I missed some subtleties, but I understood the story. Some interesting complications for me resulted from the use of German transliterations for some original Russian words, that do not match English transliterations. Even the spelling of the author’s name differs.

It is a novel of the German occupation of Soviet Russia and Ukraine during World War 2. It begins when the German army arrives in the village of Kamini Brod, where lives Taras Jazenko and his family. It tells of increasingly violent oppression in the village. In the second half of the book, the separate stories of his three adult sons and daughter are told. The story ends during the liberation of the village by the Red Army.

The plot is not smooth. The perspective changes between characters, without sufficient background on them. However, the story of Taras’ daughter Nastja stands alone powerfully. Somehow, I have read of Nastja and Pawel before; I don’t know where. The theme of the novel is for the reader to be inspired by the common people and heroic partisans suffering and fighting for the Soviet Union. It is noteworthy that while the setting is in Donbas, all people were described as Russian. The multiple propaganda purposes of the writing are obvious.

The author is Boris Gorbatow (1908-1954), who wrote this novel in Russian, with original title Непокоренныe. He was born in a Jewish family in the Luhansk region, and went to school in Bakhmut. He became a war reporter with Soviet troops, and this novel was published in late 1943. At the time, Germany was not yet defeated, and these were current events. A film was made in 1945, of the same story. That film, directed by Mark Donskoy, was one of the first depictions of the Holocaust in cinema.

This German edition was produced by Neuer Verlag in 1944. Neuer Verlag was a German exile publishing firm founded during World War 2 in Stockholm by German-Jewish Max Tau. Neuer Verlag published 27 titles, by German exile authors and German translations from Russian and Swedish. https://www.lbi.org/german-exile-publ....

While I found the novel to be an amazing historical artifact, the quality as fiction is not so great.

[Ahmed Imad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

[اسكندر علي · Rating 4 out of 5]

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