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Khatyn
It is a quiet place, with lush green grass covering the location of the former Belarusian village. A village that was burned to the ground with its inhabitants in 1943. Anyone familiar with this small corner of Eastern Europe is chilled to the bone by the events that transpired there, and the village’s name Khatyn has now come to embody a horrific national tragedy. But tragedy is not all this name embodies, for it also reminds people of the tremendous courage of those who fought for the life and freedom of their country.
It is the story of this village and the events that surround its annihilation that are the focus of Ales Adamovich’s novel Khatyn, which was written on the basis of historical documents. The author, himself a World War II veteran and partisan, depicts the reality of the partisan resistance to fascism in Belarus.
The main character is a man named Florian, who in his memories returns to events that transpired some thirty years ago, when as a teenager he joined a partisan unit and met his future wife, Glasha. He witnesses how the villagers of Khatyn are burned alive as reprisal for supporting the partisan movement. The monstrous cruelty of the death squad and its commanders manifested itself in the act of punishing the entire community for the deeds of those who had helped the partisans. The village, composed mostly of the elderly and mothers with children, was locked inside a barn. After being covered with dry hay, the barn was set ablaze with the families inside.
Over half a century later, Adamovich’s story about the courage of ordinary people has not lost its immediacy. Today, the world is still marred by war crimes committed against communities of noncombatant. Khatyn is a testament to an event that must not be forgotten, and to a reality that must not be repeated.
It is the story of this village and the events that surround its annihilation that are the focus of Ales Adamovich’s novel Khatyn, which was written on the basis of historical documents. The author, himself a World War II veteran and partisan, depicts the reality of the partisan resistance to fascism in Belarus.
The main character is a man named Florian, who in his memories returns to events that transpired some thirty years ago, when as a teenager he joined a partisan unit and met his future wife, Glasha. He witnesses how the villagers of Khatyn are burned alive as reprisal for supporting the partisan movement. The monstrous cruelty of the death squad and its commanders manifested itself in the act of punishing the entire community for the deeds of those who had helped the partisans. The village, composed mostly of the elderly and mothers with children, was locked inside a barn. After being covered with dry hay, the barn was set ablaze with the families inside.
Over half a century later, Adamovich’s story about the courage of ordinary people has not lost its immediacy. Today, the world is still marred by war crimes committed against communities of noncombatant. Khatyn is a testament to an event that must not be forgotten, and to a reality that must not be repeated.
330 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
22 people are currently reading
1438 people want to read
About the author
Alieś Adamovič
21 books36 followersAlieś Adamovič (Ales Adamovich) (1927-1994) was a Belarusian author, literary critic, and screenwriter. During World War Two he fought as a partisan, an experience which inspired his influential novel Chatyn. After the war he went on to receive this PhD in philology from the Belarusian State University and also took graduate courses in directing and screenwriting at the prestigious Moscow film school VKSR.
Adamovič was a professor and a member of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences. He was an active teacher and political figure. As a result of refusing to testify against his colleagues and to sign letters condemning political dissidents, he was barred from teaching at Moscow State University. However, he was a member of many public and professional unions. In 1989 he was one of the first writers to join the Belarusian PEN Center, and in 1994 the Center instituted the Alieś Adamovič Literary Prize.
Alieś Adamovič's writing is still widely read and the importance of his legacy to Belarusian history and culture cannot be overstated. His fiction and non-fiction make a profound case against the necessity of war, and are a testament to the kind of knowledge and wisdom so needed by humankind today.
Adamovič was a professor and a member of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences. He was an active teacher and political figure. As a result of refusing to testify against his colleagues and to sign letters condemning political dissidents, he was barred from teaching at Moscow State University. However, he was a member of many public and professional unions. In 1989 he was one of the first writers to join the Belarusian PEN Center, and in 1994 the Center instituted the Alieś Adamovič Literary Prize.
Alieś Adamovič's writing is still widely read and the importance of his legacy to Belarusian history and culture cannot be overstated. His fiction and non-fiction make a profound case against the necessity of war, and are a testament to the kind of knowledge and wisdom so needed by humankind today.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
April 5, 2016
This story begins with a reunion of the survivors from a group of partisans going back by bus to see Khatyn, the national memorial to the 2 million people of Belarus - 1 in 4 of the population - who were killed during WW2. Among these and most pertinent to this novel were the 300,000 peasants massacred in their villages, mostly burnt alive by Nazi SS units through 1943. On the bus is a blind man Florya and the opening section is a bit confusing as all the people on the bus compete to attract his attention. It soon settles down though into the story of Florya who joined his band of partisans at age 16. It is an eye-witness account of fear and horror - Florya symbolically is deaf through much of the narrative, as well as blind later on, but also a tale about the love and brotherhood that can occur in war - the author was a partisan and is writing from personal experience.
It should however be read in the context of post war Soviet politics. The place that the partisans will be visiting is the Soviet memorial to all the villagers massacred in hundreds of villages across Belarus and the name Khatyn, which was just one such of those villages, has become a symbol for them all. However in 1940 after invading Poland as part of Stalin's pact with Hitler, the Soviets massacred 20,000 Polish officers in the Katyn forests, killings that have since been acknowledged as fact but which are denied to this day as being war crimes. The erection of the Khatyn memorial in 1969 and the choice of that village name in particular does seem political and part of a deliberate policy of obfuscation to blame all the inhumanity of the war on the German fascists, deflecting any blame from Stalin for atrocities. This still has a major impact on the Russian psyche today - see the fascist rhetoric coming out of the Kremlin with regard to Ukraine.
Having said that about the politics of propaganda, this novel is beautifully crafted - the dream like sequences amidst the heat of battle reminded me a lot of Stephen Crane's A Red Badge of Courage - and there is no doubt that these atrocities took place and that Adamovich has told a necessary and powerful story. I thought it was great.
It should however be read in the context of post war Soviet politics. The place that the partisans will be visiting is the Soviet memorial to all the villagers massacred in hundreds of villages across Belarus and the name Khatyn, which was just one such of those villages, has become a symbol for them all. However in 1940 after invading Poland as part of Stalin's pact with Hitler, the Soviets massacred 20,000 Polish officers in the Katyn forests, killings that have since been acknowledged as fact but which are denied to this day as being war crimes. The erection of the Khatyn memorial in 1969 and the choice of that village name in particular does seem political and part of a deliberate policy of obfuscation to blame all the inhumanity of the war on the German fascists, deflecting any blame from Stalin for atrocities. This still has a major impact on the Russian psyche today - see the fascist rhetoric coming out of the Kremlin with regard to Ukraine.
Having said that about the politics of propaganda, this novel is beautifully crafted - the dream like sequences amidst the heat of battle reminded me a lot of Stephen Crane's A Red Badge of Courage - and there is no doubt that these atrocities took place and that Adamovich has told a necessary and powerful story. I thought it was great.
January 9, 2021
I decided to read this book after watching the haunting film Come and See, which Ales Adamovich co-wrote the screenplay for, based on this novel.
The edition I read (English language, Glagoslav, 2012) was unfortunately a bad translation. To be fair to the translators, there are some complex narrative elements here. For one thing, the narrator also will occasionally refer to himself in the third person, to explore the concept of an individual feeling alienated from who they used to be. Another thing, the story jumps between different time periods. It's primarily set in WWII-era Byelorussia (now Belarus), but there is also a frame story of the narrator visiting a memorial at the village of Khatyn with his wife (herself a former partisan) and son, and the narrator occasionally inserts memories of intellectual discussions about violence and evil with a friend the narrator made after the war. And then there are some minor technical aspects that make the writing confusing—for example, I often got lost with who was saying what, due to frequent lack of dialogue tags (although may be the intention was for the dialogue to feel disorienting?). (A minor note: While some other reviewers have commented on the lack of chapters, this did not particularly bother me, as there still were section breaks, denoted by an extra space between paragraphs).
Reading this edition (and knowing the influence Adamovich has had on later Belarusian writers, like Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich), I had the sense that the narrative technique probably felt controlled and intentional in the original Belarusian, but the translators failed to properly ground the readers, resulting in somewhat of a confusing text. And of course, something is always lost in translation, and narratives techniques that one culture is accustomed to may be confusing for readers from a different culture. (Sorry to be so hard on the translators. I know it's challenging work, and I am grateful we at least have something in English!)
With all that said, I think there may be a great novel here underneath translation (and perhaps editorial) issues. I'm glad I stuck with Khatyn, despite feeling disoriented in the first several pages by the frame narrative. With shocking details of warfare and atrocities, Adamovich offers haunting glimpses of the horrors partisans and villagers suffered during the occupation of Belarus. At moments, the novel contextualizes Nazi violence as part of an even larger history of twentieth century war crimes (for example in Vietnam). As a US reader, I worry that too much of our own literature around WWII encourages a brand of chauvinism—the real lesson of that era should not be that the US uses its military to combat evil, but that supposedly "civilized" nations are capable of unacceptable violence. It's no small undertaking to write about a historical event as massively deadly and world-changing as WWII, but in this novel, Adamovich goes even further—he's not only writing about what happened in the past, he's writing about the ongoing human phenomenon of warfare.
All in all, Khatyn provides an important, personal perspective on WWII in Eastern Europe—and on violence in general. I just hope we can see a better English translation one day. In the mean time, for audiences interested in the topic but thrown off by the translation, Come and See offers a harrowing, unforgettable film adaption.
The edition I read (English language, Glagoslav, 2012) was unfortunately a bad translation. To be fair to the translators, there are some complex narrative elements here. For one thing, the narrator also will occasionally refer to himself in the third person, to explore the concept of an individual feeling alienated from who they used to be. Another thing, the story jumps between different time periods. It's primarily set in WWII-era Byelorussia (now Belarus), but there is also a frame story of the narrator visiting a memorial at the village of Khatyn with his wife (herself a former partisan) and son, and the narrator occasionally inserts memories of intellectual discussions about violence and evil with a friend the narrator made after the war. And then there are some minor technical aspects that make the writing confusing—for example, I often got lost with who was saying what, due to frequent lack of dialogue tags (although may be the intention was for the dialogue to feel disorienting?). (A minor note: While some other reviewers have commented on the lack of chapters, this did not particularly bother me, as there still were section breaks, denoted by an extra space between paragraphs).
Reading this edition (and knowing the influence Adamovich has had on later Belarusian writers, like Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich), I had the sense that the narrative technique probably felt controlled and intentional in the original Belarusian, but the translators failed to properly ground the readers, resulting in somewhat of a confusing text. And of course, something is always lost in translation, and narratives techniques that one culture is accustomed to may be confusing for readers from a different culture. (Sorry to be so hard on the translators. I know it's challenging work, and I am grateful we at least have something in English!)
With all that said, I think there may be a great novel here underneath translation (and perhaps editorial) issues. I'm glad I stuck with Khatyn, despite feeling disoriented in the first several pages by the frame narrative. With shocking details of warfare and atrocities, Adamovich offers haunting glimpses of the horrors partisans and villagers suffered during the occupation of Belarus. At moments, the novel contextualizes Nazi violence as part of an even larger history of twentieth century war crimes (for example in Vietnam). As a US reader, I worry that too much of our own literature around WWII encourages a brand of chauvinism—the real lesson of that era should not be that the US uses its military to combat evil, but that supposedly "civilized" nations are capable of unacceptable violence. It's no small undertaking to write about a historical event as massively deadly and world-changing as WWII, but in this novel, Adamovich goes even further—he's not only writing about what happened in the past, he's writing about the ongoing human phenomenon of warfare.
All in all, Khatyn provides an important, personal perspective on WWII in Eastern Europe—and on violence in general. I just hope we can see a better English translation one day. In the mean time, for audiences interested in the topic but thrown off by the translation, Come and See offers a harrowing, unforgettable film adaption.
October 11, 2021
One of my favourite ways of discovering a new book is through a footnote in another book. I discovered Ales Adamovich's 'Khatyn' that way – through a footnote in Svetlana Alexievich's 'The Unwomanly Face of War'.
During the Second World War, around 600 villages in Belarus were burnt down by the German army, alongwith their inhabitants. Only a few people survived. This book takes this fact and makes a story out of it.
Many years after the Second World War, a group of former partisans are meeting for a reunion. They are travelling through some of the old places where they lived and fought and had fun and lost some of their mates. One of them, our narrator, is a blind man, and has come on this trip with his wife and son. The narrator describes the present time, when his former partisan friends relive the past and talk about the fun they had, and he goes back in time and narrates the events of the past, when he joined the partisans as a young man and subsequently describes the terrible events that happened.
The book marries the historical events that happened alongwith the author's own experience as a partisan during the war which results in this moving, haunting story. There are some charming scenes at the beginning, some friendship, some camaraderie, some romance, some humour. But most of the rest of the book is stark, grim, haunting and heartbreaking. I cried through most of it. It is hard to believe that all these events happened. The burning image on the cover is a heartbreaking representation of the tragic events described in the book.
I'm sharing some of my favourite passages from the book below.
"It was considered obligatory to fight in a cheerful manner. It was only the beginners who described the fighting seriously and in detail; Kasach’s experienced men talked of it as amusing, almost ridiculous adventures. Someone would come tearing along, having barely hooked it from the Germans, his eyes each as big as an apple, but he was already thinking up a story, trying to find something funny in what had happened just as if he had been playing some kind of cruel, but cheerful game with the Germans. If it had not turned out all right and the Germans had made our tails hot, that was made out to be funny too. And only when the dead were brought back, it was best not to go near if for some reason you had not been involved in the fight, for they would bite your head off as if you had been a stranger. In the evening they would sing songs softly and listen pensively as a prewar baritone assured Masha that “our life is splendid on sunny days”."
"If a person has found a place, a spot in your heart for ever, it is not that he just has filled a kind of vacancy that anyone might have occupied instead. He does not take up that gleaming spot of light, but he creates it, and without him it would not exist within you."
"When you look back on what you have lived through, you only see a single line of events, but when you look ahead into the future there is a cluster of paths splaying out, and you still do not know yet which is the only one of them for you. You live through a month, a day, a minute, and what was a cluster is squeezed up together again, becomes bare like a little branch that has been pulled through a lightly clenched fist. But even after you are left with a single twig stripped of leaves, you will look back again and again, senselessly hoping to return to the moment when everything could still have turned out differently, the moment when that one bare, merciless truth had not yet emerged...."
Have you read 'Khatyn'? What do you think about it?
During the Second World War, around 600 villages in Belarus were burnt down by the German army, alongwith their inhabitants. Only a few people survived. This book takes this fact and makes a story out of it.
Many years after the Second World War, a group of former partisans are meeting for a reunion. They are travelling through some of the old places where they lived and fought and had fun and lost some of their mates. One of them, our narrator, is a blind man, and has come on this trip with his wife and son. The narrator describes the present time, when his former partisan friends relive the past and talk about the fun they had, and he goes back in time and narrates the events of the past, when he joined the partisans as a young man and subsequently describes the terrible events that happened.
The book marries the historical events that happened alongwith the author's own experience as a partisan during the war which results in this moving, haunting story. There are some charming scenes at the beginning, some friendship, some camaraderie, some romance, some humour. But most of the rest of the book is stark, grim, haunting and heartbreaking. I cried through most of it. It is hard to believe that all these events happened. The burning image on the cover is a heartbreaking representation of the tragic events described in the book.
I'm sharing some of my favourite passages from the book below.
"It was considered obligatory to fight in a cheerful manner. It was only the beginners who described the fighting seriously and in detail; Kasach’s experienced men talked of it as amusing, almost ridiculous adventures. Someone would come tearing along, having barely hooked it from the Germans, his eyes each as big as an apple, but he was already thinking up a story, trying to find something funny in what had happened just as if he had been playing some kind of cruel, but cheerful game with the Germans. If it had not turned out all right and the Germans had made our tails hot, that was made out to be funny too. And only when the dead were brought back, it was best not to go near if for some reason you had not been involved in the fight, for they would bite your head off as if you had been a stranger. In the evening they would sing songs softly and listen pensively as a prewar baritone assured Masha that “our life is splendid on sunny days”."
"If a person has found a place, a spot in your heart for ever, it is not that he just has filled a kind of vacancy that anyone might have occupied instead. He does not take up that gleaming spot of light, but he creates it, and without him it would not exist within you."
"When you look back on what you have lived through, you only see a single line of events, but when you look ahead into the future there is a cluster of paths splaying out, and you still do not know yet which is the only one of them for you. You live through a month, a day, a minute, and what was a cluster is squeezed up together again, becomes bare like a little branch that has been pulled through a lightly clenched fist. But even after you are left with a single twig stripped of leaves, you will look back again and again, senselessly hoping to return to the moment when everything could still have turned out differently, the moment when that one bare, merciless truth had not yet emerged...."
Have you read 'Khatyn'? What do you think about it?
October 8, 2012
Khatyn is not an easy book to read due to the subject matter. War is never easy to read about, nor is brutality. The events surrounding the Khatyn massacre are filled with both. In March 1943, the Nazis and some Soviet collaborators carried out a massacre of an entire village in what is now Belarus. 149 people were brutally murdered, including 75 children.
The author sheds some light on this horrible event through a fictional witnessing of this story from someone in the partisan troops. I thought that using the first person point of view made this story feel both especially real and even more scary. It's hard to get over what the characters are doing and witnessing.
The hard thing about reading books like that is that they can be sort of graphic and this one is a little bit. Even though they are graphic, they are still very important to read. Realizing that made it a lot easier for me to get through the book. It is so important for us to learn about the past so that the same mistakes are not made in the future.
This book is probably not for very sensitive readers but if you think you can deal with all of the bad things in the book, it is most definitely worth the read.
The author sheds some light on this horrible event through a fictional witnessing of this story from someone in the partisan troops. I thought that using the first person point of view made this story feel both especially real and even more scary. It's hard to get over what the characters are doing and witnessing.
The hard thing about reading books like that is that they can be sort of graphic and this one is a little bit. Even though they are graphic, they are still very important to read. Realizing that made it a lot easier for me to get through the book. It is so important for us to learn about the past so that the same mistakes are not made in the future.
This book is probably not for very sensitive readers but if you think you can deal with all of the bad things in the book, it is most definitely worth the read.
June 29, 2021
I came to this book after being completely moved by the film Come and See by Elem Kilmov. The movie was unlike anything I have ever seen before. The story follows similarly to the book Khatyn with the fact that it’s screenplay was done by Ales Adomovich. It truly gave me nightmares and inspired me to read Khatyn.
Understanding that this book is a translation I didn’t expect it to be the smoothest read. However, the different perspective changes, bunches of character names thrown at you in the beginning, and no clear indication always of who is speaking made it that much more difficult. I say this as typing a crazy run on sentence.
Nonetheless this book is important. I can’t believe I had never knew a thing about the tragedy of what went on in Belarus. I’m thankful for the stories of those who lived through it to continue to be told to modern readers.
Understanding that this book is a translation I didn’t expect it to be the smoothest read. However, the different perspective changes, bunches of character names thrown at you in the beginning, and no clear indication always of who is speaking made it that much more difficult. I say this as typing a crazy run on sentence.
Nonetheless this book is important. I can’t believe I had never knew a thing about the tragedy of what went on in Belarus. I’m thankful for the stories of those who lived through it to continue to be told to modern readers.
June 21, 2012
The book is incredible, events from the past are so tangible in it, and you get to become one of them, the perished people, and the war and the suffering is so close to your own skin... and then you get pulled out of this - to the present - and see what was done with already different eyes. The novel talks to you, and makes you talk back, in thoughts, have a dialogue with yourself first of all, with that part of you - of any human - that made the events of WWII possible. And only you know the conclusion. That is the intimacy and the power of this novel. Great book, unforgettable. Will change the way you look at the world forever. Must read.
April 20, 2015
This has been an overwhelming experience. Writing anything about it seems to cheapen the experience. It is a fantastically graphic depiction of a massacre and its aftermath. The writing and the storyline are to be applauded for clarity and intensity: a tricky combination well managed. Everyone should read it. There are too few stars to do it justice.
May 20, 2023
A harrowing semi autobiographical work detailing the authors time serving as a partisan on the Eastern front during World War 2. The novel does an amazing job exploring themes of loss, innocence and love as the protragionist is shaped by the horrors of war. If you've read All Quiet on The Western Front, I highly recommend this novel.
September 15, 2012
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book with the expectation that I would provide an honest review.
I found this book difficult emotionally.
This is a fictional, semi-autobiographical first-person narrative of a Soviet partisan fighter witnessing a less-known "holocaust" from WW II.
After its winter defeat at Stalingrad, the German military began systematic reprisals against Soviet villages.
The atrocities they committed prefigure those of "pacification" in Viet Nam, the killing fields of Cambodia, and "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia, made more chilling by the Teutonic precision with which they are carried out and documented:
But in the end, Khatyn is not all gloom and doom. As editor Camilla Stein writes,
Khatyn describes the genocide of Byelorussians in WW II, but as its author intended, it has universal meaning.
Although it is fictional, it is very well researched and will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in WW II history.
A note on the translation:
The language intentionally sounds odd, because (Byelo)Russian idioms and sayings are translated literally into English.
A note on this edition:
Originally published in 1972 during the Soviet era, Khatyn was only available in a censored form. This first-ever translation into English is based on the uncensored, fully restored version.
I found this book difficult emotionally.
This is a fictional, semi-autobiographical first-person narrative of a Soviet partisan fighter witnessing a less-known "holocaust" from WW II.
After its winter defeat at Stalingrad, the German military began systematic reprisals against Soviet villages.
The atrocities they committed prefigure those of "pacification" in Viet Nam, the killing fields of Cambodia, and "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia, made more chilling by the Teutonic precision with which they are carried out and documented:
I hereby state the numbers executed. 705 were shot, of them 203 men, 372 women, and 130 children. ... The following were expended ... 786 rifle cartridges, 2,496 machine-gun cartridges ...
But in the end, Khatyn is not all gloom and doom. As editor Camilla Stein writes,
Khatyn is not written to scare away or to only shed tears. The novel is composed from a standpoint of a young person, and youth is daring, youth is dashing, youth falls in love and romanticizes everything, even war. Youth is courageous, youth is bright, and youth is ever present on Khatyn’s pages. Youth is the future, and the reason why Ales Adamovich did the work - Khatyn is written for the next generation to stand strong.
Khatyn describes the genocide of Byelorussians in WW II, but as its author intended, it has universal meaning.
Although it is fictional, it is very well researched and will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in WW II history.
A note on the translation:
The language intentionally sounds odd, because (Byelo)Russian idioms and sayings are translated literally into English.
A note on this edition:
Originally published in 1972 during the Soviet era, Khatyn was only available in a censored form. This first-ever translation into English is based on the uncensored, fully restored version.
June 26, 2017
Adamovich has written an extremely tough book to read. As I read this one I could taste the smoke, feel the fear in the characters guts, taste the vile swamp water, feel the adrenalin rush of the attack and the dead tried of the march. If you've been there yourself you know the feelings. My own memories come flooding back as the people in this book faced their demons and recalled them. In many ways Adamovich has written an autobiography of his experience. it's cathartic for some to write out what happened and what you felt at the time. For the average reader this makes this book a confusing read.
Adamovich writes the story as a partisan veteran who is on a reunion trip with his old partisan unit. Flyora is our partisan narrator. He is also a PHD of Philosophy today. AS the story unfolds Flyora jumps from 1943 to 1968 and the reunion trip, to days, months or years before and his discussions with others in the philosophy department. These time jumps lead to some confusion. Also around pg. 200 the reader gets actual reports from those who survived the German death squads, who would burn villagers alive in their barns, and from the German officers who led these squads and filed their after action reports.
Adamovich has written a book that tells of war in all it's gore and asks why do we continue to fight these wars? Why do good people allow our politicians to lead us into conflicts because they want to feel superior to others? Or because the politicians have developed a political philosophy that puts one group over another. This book is as timely today, as the U.S looks at a never ending conflict in the Mideast, as it was when originally published in 1972. Maybe for us in America it is even more timely today than it was for the USSR in 72.
Adamovich writes the story as a partisan veteran who is on a reunion trip with his old partisan unit. Flyora is our partisan narrator. He is also a PHD of Philosophy today. AS the story unfolds Flyora jumps from 1943 to 1968 and the reunion trip, to days, months or years before and his discussions with others in the philosophy department. These time jumps lead to some confusion. Also around pg. 200 the reader gets actual reports from those who survived the German death squads, who would burn villagers alive in their barns, and from the German officers who led these squads and filed their after action reports.
Adamovich has written a book that tells of war in all it's gore and asks why do we continue to fight these wars? Why do good people allow our politicians to lead us into conflicts because they want to feel superior to others? Or because the politicians have developed a political philosophy that puts one group over another. This book is as timely today, as the U.S looks at a never ending conflict in the Mideast, as it was when originally published in 1972. Maybe for us in America it is even more timely today than it was for the USSR in 72.
May 31, 2014
This book stuns the reader with an exceptionally close-up depiction of the German atrocities in Belorussia, 1943, recalled by a now blind academic on a bus trip to a celebration/memorial of the destruction and extermination which he had survived as a partisan.
The detailed drawing of the fiery deaths and sadistic treatment of the villagers and the distance of their tormentors serves as a backdrop for the author's concern about the wholesale slaughter possible in the era of the Bomb.
The story drips with humanity, and it forces the reader to confront the experience of Khatyn through the eyes of the narrator as his memory recreates the experience. Only a North Vietnamese novel I read some years ago approximates this treatment of war and the people who fought or suffered from it (I loaned it out a couple of years back and so can't cite it).
Definitely worth reading for a number of reasons.
The detailed drawing of the fiery deaths and sadistic treatment of the villagers and the distance of their tormentors serves as a backdrop for the author's concern about the wholesale slaughter possible in the era of the Bomb.
The story drips with humanity, and it forces the reader to confront the experience of Khatyn through the eyes of the narrator as his memory recreates the experience. Only a North Vietnamese novel I read some years ago approximates this treatment of war and the people who fought or suffered from it (I loaned it out a couple of years back and so can't cite it).
Definitely worth reading for a number of reasons.
August 17, 2012
Wow this book is a must read... It's a book that will make you look at the world differently. At times it was difficult to read because we don't want to feel or know others suffering but through this I have a different understanding of war and the feelings and emotions that we in this day and age don't understand.
January 30, 2019
A book about unimaginable horrors and pain that moved me to tears on occasion.
It’s also an important one for anyone who wishes to understand the Second World War, and particularly the differences between the western front, and the eastern.
It’s also an important one for anyone who wishes to understand the Second World War, and particularly the differences between the western front, and the eastern.
December 9, 2019
Морально тяжело для чтения
December 17, 2023
Before you read this book or even this review go watch "Come and See", which is the film based on this book. It makes the events of this book significantly easier to follow so you can focus more on the themes rather than trying to detangle crime that is some sections of the translation.
On the subject of the translation, worst things first. The middle section of Khatyn is by far the worst when it comes to spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes and incomprehensible sentances. My personal favourite of these errors is the recouring issue of 't's and 'l's getting switched around. Along with one moment where it says a German soldier swung his 'arras' (arms) in circles. Arras are technically a thing but I highly doubt some random guy in the middle of the Belarussian countryside was swing around expensive, fabric, wall tapertries.
I'm not going to say much on the bits of German dialogue sprinkled througout the book but I think its quite funny that the translators managed to fuck up litteral one-liners. 'Polizei' is already plural, you don't need to add an 's'. I don't think this is part of the original book considering in other sections of Khatyn it's correct and these mistakes aren't present in "Come and See" which was co-written by the author.
Fortunately, that's where my critism of this book end.
Flyora or Flora (depending on who you ask) is the part I personally find the most interesting. The contrast between the past and present versions of him is fascinating. What ends up happening is an older, wiser Flyora (who similar to a mouthpiece for Adamovich) uses his past experiences to contextualise the events like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Vietnam War.
Furthermore, Flyora stands out from other characters in similar novels by the ammount of characterisation that the author gives him. Throughout the novel we see how his personal problems, for example his rather unhinged obsession with the comander of the partisan group, Kasach, influence Flyora's self-image and interpretation of the events occuring around him.
One thing that'll stand out most to readers is how Adamovich chooses to write his Nazi characters. Their actrocities are slowly drip fed to the audience. At first we and Flyora only hear rumors, they are faceless shadows on the horizon and in the forest. Almost like a supernatural evil. But slowly we see more and more, we get closer and closer until the pages are no longer fiction but the real testimonies of the survivors of mass murders like Khatyn. If you haven't read it you legitimately can't even begin to comprehend how powerful it is.
I can safely say that Khatyn is a book defined by its characters. I don't want to devalue the importance of its plot though. It meanders from place to place as a confused Flyora navigates the rapidly changing world around him. This is one of many things that on paper seem like a bad idea but in practice beautifuly submerges the reader in Flyora's psyche. The fact we only get a vague idea of the plans of the partisans helps the main characters more relatable and seem more like an average kid who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and had to unfairly suffer for it.
I would recommend this to anyone, its a tough read, but ultimately there aren't many books I would consider this important to understanding the horrific experiences of the victims of genocide.
Btw if you thought you were reading a book about Katyn, which is in Poland, I feel so bad for you.
On the subject of the translation, worst things first. The middle section of Khatyn is by far the worst when it comes to spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes and incomprehensible sentances. My personal favourite of these errors is the recouring issue of 't's and 'l's getting switched around. Along with one moment where it says a German soldier swung his 'arras' (arms) in circles. Arras are technically a thing but I highly doubt some random guy in the middle of the Belarussian countryside was swing around expensive, fabric, wall tapertries.
I'm not going to say much on the bits of German dialogue sprinkled througout the book but I think its quite funny that the translators managed to fuck up litteral one-liners. 'Polizei' is already plural, you don't need to add an 's'. I don't think this is part of the original book considering in other sections of Khatyn it's correct and these mistakes aren't present in "Come and See" which was co-written by the author.
Fortunately, that's where my critism of this book end.
Flyora or Flora (depending on who you ask) is the part I personally find the most interesting. The contrast between the past and present versions of him is fascinating. What ends up happening is an older, wiser Flyora (who similar to a mouthpiece for Adamovich) uses his past experiences to contextualise the events like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Vietnam War.
Furthermore, Flyora stands out from other characters in similar novels by the ammount of characterisation that the author gives him. Throughout the novel we see how his personal problems, for example his rather unhinged obsession with the comander of the partisan group, Kasach, influence Flyora's self-image and interpretation of the events occuring around him.
One thing that'll stand out most to readers is how Adamovich chooses to write his Nazi characters. Their actrocities are slowly drip fed to the audience. At first we and Flyora only hear rumors, they are faceless shadows on the horizon and in the forest. Almost like a supernatural evil. But slowly we see more and more, we get closer and closer until the pages are no longer fiction but the real testimonies of the survivors of mass murders like Khatyn. If you haven't read it you legitimately can't even begin to comprehend how powerful it is.
I can safely say that Khatyn is a book defined by its characters. I don't want to devalue the importance of its plot though. It meanders from place to place as a confused Flyora navigates the rapidly changing world around him. This is one of many things that on paper seem like a bad idea but in practice beautifuly submerges the reader in Flyora's psyche. The fact we only get a vague idea of the plans of the partisans helps the main characters more relatable and seem more like an average kid who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and had to unfairly suffer for it.
I would recommend this to anyone, its a tough read, but ultimately there aren't many books I would consider this important to understanding the horrific experiences of the victims of genocide.
Btw if you thought you were reading a book about Katyn, which is in Poland, I feel so bad for you.
July 22, 2020
When reading a translation I never know if I am reading a good translation or not. This book was further complicated by what I assume is poor editing; occasional misspellings, words that were hyphenated as if they were split across two lines but were on the same line. But these minor shortcomings added a sense that the book was written in English by somebody for whom English was not the primary language. For me, this enhanced the experience. I'm not certain if the book was originally written in Belarusian or Russian but I a certain that it was not written in English.
Those challenges aside, I really enjoyed this book. 'Enjoy' is an odd word to use since there was much heartache, destruction, and death but it was compelling nonetheless. None of the heartache, destruction, and death was offered gratuitously, as might be encountered in a more sensational book. It's a story that needs to be remembered.
Those challenges aside, I really enjoyed this book. 'Enjoy' is an odd word to use since there was much heartache, destruction, and death but it was compelling nonetheless. None of the heartache, destruction, and death was offered gratuitously, as might be encountered in a more sensational book. It's a story that needs to be remembered.
March 19, 2024
Still not very fluent in Russian, so had to do a regular dictionary work for that. Although good for increasing my Slavic vocabulary. Went through a rapid fire mode in this semester pressure but today it needed to be finished. Anyways, it primarily describes about the brutal inhuman torture of Nazis on the innocent people of Belarus. Started with some boring emotional romantic plot though the torture part was interesting to know about. Nazis did invent very creative ways to suppress every single force who stood against 'em, admirable. Some parts looked exaggerated though can say it's based on reality. There must me authority of the one man, the one great dictator, that Ubermensch - flows in my veins. The Man deserves to be worshipped. Common mass feel 3 consistent emotion - FEAR, DEVOTION, LOVE - for that one supreme master.
January 7, 2020
This English translation is unreadable; it contains many grammatical errors and the English style is at best awkward. I'm not sure where all the positive reviews are based on. Maybe the original content is good, but I couldn't make heads or tails of this English version.
April 5, 2020
Maybe it was that the translated version didn't have chapters but this was difficult for me to get through. There were some great parts of this book overall though I wasn't a fan. I am curious to see how it was adapted into a movie.
May 28, 2021
An important and complex novel buried beneath a poor translation and bad editing. Credit to Glagoslav press for publishing it at all, but it's a crying shame that there isn't a better English edition out there. Adamovich and his subject matter deserve better.
March 10, 2022
Cometí el error de leerlo muy poco tiempo (~3 meses) después de haber visto la película (Ven y mira). Reconozco su mérito, pero siento que no pude apreciar el libro tanto por lo que es, sino que leerlo me hizo pensar más y más en la película, que es una de las mejores que he visto.
June 25, 2018
The horrors of war
Hard to read but very much worth it. Recommend watching Come and See first, makes the book easier to read.
Hard to read but very much worth it. Recommend watching Come and See first, makes the book easier to read.
December 13, 2021
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! (AKA read it).
February 9, 2022
После этой книги мне очень сильно не хотелось жить на этой земле, так что свою функцию она выполнила, я думаю.
January 20, 2024
6.75/10 - very poor translation (awkward, stilted language & frequent errors) makes it hard to judge this book accurately.
January 4, 2013
What can I say about this work? It is an epic, heart-felt, terrifying semi-autobiographical fictional story of a young partisan told through the reminiscences of his older self as he returns to the Khatyn, the scene of one of the worst massacres outside of the Nazi concentration camps. We follow our young partisan, Florian, as he gets to grip with life in hiding, battles with Nazis and their supporters and with his own feelings towards his fellow partisans and mankind as a whole.
Adamovich writes with emotion and feeling without being judgmental or accusatory and manages to walk that extremely thin line between right and wrong that so often gets blurred when writing of such sensitive events. The scenes building up to, during and following the massacre of Khatyn and other villages are handled brilliantly and include first hand accounts of what happened, including the coldest military report I've ever read that lists the dead alongside weapons expended, equipment taken and livestock stolen. This use of fact and fiction paints a graphic yet real picture of those events without judgment or bias (a very difficult thing I'm sure) and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions and interpret their own emotions.
This is not an easy read but it is a compelling and gripping account of life as a partisan, both the good and the bad, and of some of the worse atrocities perpetrated outside (and possibly inside) the concentration camps and of how witnessing such events can influence the mind, opinions and views of the young. This is a book that will leave you with a hundred questions, many of which are unanswerable and the most poignant of which is why?
Adamovich writes with emotion and feeling without being judgmental or accusatory and manages to walk that extremely thin line between right and wrong that so often gets blurred when writing of such sensitive events. The scenes building up to, during and following the massacre of Khatyn and other villages are handled brilliantly and include first hand accounts of what happened, including the coldest military report I've ever read that lists the dead alongside weapons expended, equipment taken and livestock stolen. This use of fact and fiction paints a graphic yet real picture of those events without judgment or bias (a very difficult thing I'm sure) and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions and interpret their own emotions.
This is not an easy read but it is a compelling and gripping account of life as a partisan, both the good and the bad, and of some of the worse atrocities perpetrated outside (and possibly inside) the concentration camps and of how witnessing such events can influence the mind, opinions and views of the young. This is a book that will leave you with a hundred questions, many of which are unanswerable and the most poignant of which is why?
November 22, 2012
Khatyn, by Ales Adamovich, was a difficult book to read on many levels.
Format-wise, it was one 330-page “chapter”. After years of reading, my mind reads books in manageable chunks, and 330 pages is not manageable for me. I think it might have helped the author gather and clarify his thoughts, as well, had he opted towards the occasional break.
In this same general “formatting” category, there were occasional places where the translation to English seemed a little awkward. I didn't consider this a flaw; it actually helped me feel like I was listening to someone from Eastern Europe! (Although, I have to admit, a reference to the leader which Spellcheck apparently converted to “Chief of Stuff” made me smirk at an inappropriate moment.)
Topic-wise, it was uncomfortable to read about war, especially World War II, from the vantage-point of a low-level participant. It portrayed the situation in a way that the autobiography of some general never could.
I opted to read this book because I did not have much knowledge of the Eastern Front of the War in Europe. When I began reading, I did not know that Khatyn is based on a true story, of a slaughter of civilians that occurred in a village of that name. I put the book down twice and moved to something a little less intense, but always came back to it.
I would encourage the reader to do a quick internet search on Khatyn for further reference on the topic.
DISCLOSURE: I was given a .pdf copy of this book free of charge from the publisher in return for sharing my thoughts – whatever they were – upon completion.
Format-wise, it was one 330-page “chapter”. After years of reading, my mind reads books in manageable chunks, and 330 pages is not manageable for me. I think it might have helped the author gather and clarify his thoughts, as well, had he opted towards the occasional break.
In this same general “formatting” category, there were occasional places where the translation to English seemed a little awkward. I didn't consider this a flaw; it actually helped me feel like I was listening to someone from Eastern Europe! (Although, I have to admit, a reference to the leader which Spellcheck apparently converted to “Chief of Stuff” made me smirk at an inappropriate moment.)
Topic-wise, it was uncomfortable to read about war, especially World War II, from the vantage-point of a low-level participant. It portrayed the situation in a way that the autobiography of some general never could.
I opted to read this book because I did not have much knowledge of the Eastern Front of the War in Europe. When I began reading, I did not know that Khatyn is based on a true story, of a slaughter of civilians that occurred in a village of that name. I put the book down twice and moved to something a little less intense, but always came back to it.
I would encourage the reader to do a quick internet search on Khatyn for further reference on the topic.
DISCLOSURE: I was given a .pdf copy of this book free of charge from the publisher in return for sharing my thoughts – whatever they were – upon completion.
June 29, 2015
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The subject material was fascinating, and seeing it was written by a Belorussian about the razing of Belorussian villages during the war, it seemed a winning combination.
On the plus side, there are some amazing scenes of battles and of the constant hide-and-seek survival of a partisan fighter. Also included are 14 pages of actual accounts by survivors of the atrocities, as well as from Germans who were part of the punitive execution squads.
On the negative side, the book is plagued by poor editing; numerous spelling errors, as well as grammatical and punctuation errors occur throughout; completely wrong words are also sporadically inserted, forcing the reader to go back and try to figure out the correct reading of the sentence.
The other aspects that I found difficult:
- 330 pages in length with no chapter breaks; it is all one long chapter in itself;
- the narrator drifts in and out of modern day and memories; with no chapter breaks it gets confusing at times as to where the story is taking place.
Not a book I would give a second read, but I am still thankful I stuck it out to the end.
On the plus side, there are some amazing scenes of battles and of the constant hide-and-seek survival of a partisan fighter. Also included are 14 pages of actual accounts by survivors of the atrocities, as well as from Germans who were part of the punitive execution squads.
On the negative side, the book is plagued by poor editing; numerous spelling errors, as well as grammatical and punctuation errors occur throughout; completely wrong words are also sporadically inserted, forcing the reader to go back and try to figure out the correct reading of the sentence.
The other aspects that I found difficult:
- 330 pages in length with no chapter breaks; it is all one long chapter in itself;
- the narrator drifts in and out of modern day and memories; with no chapter breaks it gets confusing at times as to where the story is taking place.
Not a book I would give a second read, but I am still thankful I stuck it out to the end.
October 15, 2020
A personal account of the Belarusian massacres during WWII by the Nazi regime. I read this after watching Come and See, a film loosely based on the experience written here. A truly horrifying account of the systematic purging of all villages in Belarussia that had any association with fighting partisans (basically every village trying to stay alive). The story jumps from the narrator visiting his homeland many years after the main events of the story and back again towards the end, but the bulk of the story takes place on the run from his small village, fleeing the German soldiers as they move from town to town, killing everyone they find. What really comes across in this story is the loss of innocence, of a young man trying to come to grips with what is happening to his family, his villiage, his entire country. A haunting yet essential story of the massacre of the Belarus people.
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