ملاك غروزني

by Åsne Seierstad, آسني سييرستاد, أفنان سعد الدين (ترجمة)

عرض سخي في هذا الكتاب الواقعي، لتفاصيل الأوضاع في جمهورية الشيشان، منذ الساعات الأولى لاقتحام القوات الروسية لأراضيها عام 1994، وحتى عام 2007. فالكاتبة الصحافية والمراسلة الميدانية، قامت بزيارتها الأولى إلى هناك في هذا الوقت بالذات، لتتكرر بعد ذلك مناسبات الزيارة، بحسب الأوضاع المتوترة والأحداث المتتالية التي شهدته البلاد، والتي أفضت بالنهاية إلى كتابة هذا الكتاب المليئ بالصور والتفاصيل المعبرّة عن المآساة الشيشانية بكل أوجه الحرب العنيفة فيها، من الدمار والخراب إلى الآف القتلى وأعداد كبيرة من الجرحى، واليتامى المشردين والضائعين وغالبيتهم من الأولاد والأطفال.

"بعد مضي أسبوع واحد أجد نفسي منبطحة في أحد الخنادق. تُمزّق طلقات الرصاص أغصان الأشجار فوق رؤوسنا، وتكشط سطح المنحدر متسببة بتساقط شلال من الحجارة والأعشاب". "طوال الوقت أخذت أفكر في الماء واعتقدت أنني لن أقوى على أن أزحف مسافة أبعد من ذلك إن لم أحظ بشيء لأشربه".

سجلت الكاتبة بطريقتها السردية الخاصة والمؤثرة، تجربتها مع يوميات الحرب في الشيشان، ومشاهدتها الميدانية الحية، كما سجلت اللقاءات التي أجرتها مع العديد من العائلات ومع المسؤولين هناك، بما فيها مقابلة مطولة مع الرئيس الشيشاني "رمضان قديروف" الذي يمثّل التيار المسلم المعتدل للدولة في مجابهة تيار إسلامي متشدد قريب من جماعة أسامة بن لادن. كما روت كيفية استمرارها ومواظبتها في البحث الشجاع والمحفوف بالأخطار، عن حقيقة الوضع في الشيشان من خلال معايشتها للناس وكتابة قصصهم التي تروي الواقع أو تعكسه أو تفضحه. وفي هذا السياق تروي قصة لقاءها بـ"خديجة" التي نشأت في دار أيتام سوفيتية في غروزني، والتي باتت هي نفسها الآن تساعد اليتامى ضحايا الحرب، ففتحت بيتها وبيوت أصدقاءها، لإيوائهم وإطعامهم، وإعطائهم فرصة آنية للعيش وسط جو عائلي، لأن مستقبلهم الفعلي يبقى غامضاً في ظل الفقر والحرب وظروف البلاد الصعبة.

يتعرّف القارئ في هذا الكتاب الذي يبرز التعاطف الإنساني وقيمة المفاهيم الإنسانية التي أخذت موقعها في ظلمة أوضاع سياسية محبطة، بالإضافة إلى تفاعله مع القصص العديدة المؤثرة التي تتضمنها، ومع الأحداث المختلفة التي تشكّل محتواها، على حيثيات وسمات بلد إسلامي في تناقضه مع الانتماء إلى روسيا المعاصرة، وفي صراعاته وحروبه واضطراباته التي لا تزال مستمرة.

Genres: Nonfiction, Russia, History, War, Journalism, Military Fiction, Politics

447 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Åsne Seierstad is a Norwegian freelance journalist and writer, best known for her accounts of everyday life in war zones – most notably Kabul after 2001, Baghdad in 2002 and the ruined Grozny in 2006.
She has received numerous awards for her journalism and has reported from such war-torn regions as Chechnya, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
She is fluent in five languages and lives in Norway.

Reviews

[Katia N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young Asne was in Russia in 1994 when the first Chechen war has started. She was a Russian speaker, and aspiring journalist so she decided to go to Chechnya to find out what is going on and maybe to report. She has had a scary but eye-opening experience. Later, she came back in Russian in 2005 when Kadyrov was already responsible for Chechnya and the second war was in less active stage. She went back in Chechnya, first time - secretly; and another - as member of official tour organised for foreign journalists. This book is the result of her first-hand experience, her meetings with the Chechens of different backgrounds and ways of life; her interview with Kadyrov. On the other hand, in 2005 she talked to the ordinary Russians - the soldier left maimed by the war who admires Putin and does not consider Chechens human beings; The parents of Neo-Nazis in Moscow who were persecuted for the racially motivated assaults against the Chechens. But the parents blame the journalists who reported on the matter, the victims but not their sons saying that Russia should be for Russians. They conveniently forget that the Chechens are the citizens of Russia as well even if they tried to get out. Also she talks to the fellow travellers in a train - two maths professors and a nurse. The professors tell her that life was good during the Soviets as Russia respected in the world due to its ability to "threaten everyone with the nuclear button." Remember - maths professors in the ordinary train in 2005. All of this might explain better the situation we find observes now and the attitude of the ordinary Russians of certain garden variety.

The main focus of the book is an orphanage set out by a simple Chechen family in Grozny to help many children orphaned by the war. Asne does not follow the path of an easy narrative and shows that some of those children are practically impossible to help so much that scarthed with their experiences.

It is just a journalist non-fiction. It is not a monograph or a historic study. But in general, in spite of living in Russia in 1991-2001, I found this book quite an educational read. It brings up to light many issues and facts I did not know about, or maybe somehow did not notice. Where was I? I was 20. I've had a demanding job and good social life. I do not remember thinking that much of that war. I certainly did not feel it at all in my daily life. What if I did then? What if I could do something then to stop it? But I did not. It also explains quite a few things for me in the current war with Ukraine. One of the main takes - it is not only Putin to blame for the current situation. Putin was nowhere near Kremlin in 1994. And the same criminal acts like mass torture, killing civilians, blaming the other side for the atrocities done by the Russian army were happening in Chechnya that are carried out now in Ukraine on a much bigger scale. There are might be a difference in reasons for this war but the similarity in methods and cruelty is overwhelmingly there. It looks like this way of behaving is embedded deeply in the russian army and supported by the significant part of the russian population where this army stems from.

Asne concludes the one of her stories:

The trips to Chechnya changed me. When I went back to Moscow to recuperate, I became depressed, had lost my drive. I just wanted to go back again. Real life was in the mountains, where people were waging a life-and-death struggle. Little by little I became almost anti-Russian. From being captivated by the poetry, the music, in search of ‘the Russian soul’, I became aware of the racism, the nationalism, the corruption of senior government officials, the ignorance, the bleak history; as Anton Chekhov put it: Russian life is like a thousand-pound stone, it grinds a Russian down till there’s not even a wet patch left. (P55)

And I think currently I understand her sentiment.

A few quotes:

I’d passed row after row of devastated buildings, demolished homes, gaping holes - the city lay in ruins. Already now, four or five months into the war, the destruction was worse than that suffered by Sarajevo in two or three years. People tramped over stone blocks and pieces of concrete, walked around deep holes, bent under wires and cables, balanced on planks laid across the bomb craters. After the catastrophic New Year invasion, the minister of defence had got rid of some generals; he remained, himself, but changed tactics and began high-altitude bombing. Hospitals, orphanages, waterworks and homes were demolished - despite the fact that Russia’s prime minister maintained that ‘the aerial attacks strike only military installations from which the enemy is shooting’, and the Security Council in the Kremlin declared ‘the Chechens simulated explosions in residential areas’. (P22)

"Dec 94 - Pavel Grachev (the minister of defence), who had celebrated his forty-fourth birthday the evening before, had declared ‘a single paratroop regiment can solve all the problems within two hours’. After the first twenty-four hours, a thousand Russian soldiers had been killed. Calmly, without firing a shot, the tanks rumbled forward on huge caterpillar treads. They did not have orders to attack, just to ‘occupy the city’. They passed through the suburbs without encountering any resistance. The same was true of the apartment blocks on the outskirts of Grozny. The heavy columns rolled on until they reached the inner city. There they met the counterattack. The Chechens stood ready in Grozny’s forest of tall buildings. Tanks were set ablaze. The soldiers inside fled from the flames, only to be shot down, one by one, as they leaped out. Those who sought refuge in the buildings were attacked in the entrances, where the city’s defenders stood ready with knives, swords and kinzhals - daggers. How could the Russian army allow itself to be so humiliated? What kind of intelligence information was this? The minister of defence had himself said that bandits in the republic numbered in the tens of thousands. Bandits - that’s what he called the separatists. Had he imagined they would run away when they saw the tanks? According to highly placed military sources, it gradually came out that Grachev’s order to storm Grozny on New Year’s Eve was given almost on a whim during a drunken party at the military base in Mozdok. ‘A birthday blitz’, the idea was called. The troops had been sent in without maps, without firm orders, without knowing where they should go. The tank drivers had merely been told ‘Follow the tank ahead of you’. Many of the soldiers had never handled a weapon, and those who had had generally lain flat on the ground and fired at a target. None of them had received any training for urban warfare - the most difficult of all battlefields. The army had not yet adjusted from a Cold War strategy based on nuclear warfare. Most of the tanks were old and lacked communications equipment as well as protective armour. The Chechens could toss grenades from high-rise buildings and let the ammunition and fuel that exploded inside the vehicle do the rest. (P 12)

‘We had an agreement with the Russians that they wouldn’t bomb the town if we didn’t shelter the fighters. We handed over all our weapons and posted guards to make sure no fighters came here,’ one man told us. ‘Every week the Council of Elders and the Russian troops held talks. We thought it was safe to stay here; because of the Russian promises, few people fled. When the bombardment started, all we could do was rush down into our cellars. ‘After twelve hours, the bombing stopped and we could go outside,’ the man continued. He had lived twenty years in Siberia in order to earn enough money to build a house for his family. Now everything was gone. ‘Until the very last day, they said we didn’t need to worry.’ ‘They call it war,’ said another. Some of the walls were still standing in the once stately house where he lived with his wife and five sons. ‘They said on TV that they had killed so many Chechen fighters. That’s a lie. There weren’t any fighters here, just peaceful villagers. They shoot as if they have a real enemy, but only civilians die." (P38)

"Yeltsin wanted to keep Russia’s borders intact at any cost and refused to accept secession. As a result, these two men who once had fought the same fight - against the Soviet Union - now became bitter enemies. And it is these two men who must bear the main responsibility for the Chechen tragedy. Dudayev began a war of words with Yeltsin. ‘Russianism is worse than Nazism’, ‘Boris Yeltsin heads a gang of murderers’ and his regime is the ‘diabolic heir to a totalitarian monster’. For its part, the Russian government introduced an amazingly ineffective trade embargo and cut important subsidies; the only thing the Russian state paid was pensions to help local Russians remain in Chechnya. The huge reduction in financial aid from Russia added to the chaos and corruption, and soon Dudayev’s regime was even less able to pay salaries than governments elsewhere in Russia. A Moscow bank robbery by Chechen criminals netted almost a billion dollars; most of the money was brought back to Chechnya. Grozny became a centre for smuggling, fraud and money laundering, while the government’s role in the republic was collapsing. Meanwhile, the hawks in Yeltsin’s administration wanted a ‘small victorious war’, something that would increase their popularity among nationalistic Russians after an ultra-nationalist candidate, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, had won about every fourth vote in the parliamentary election. However, the main reason for invading Chechnya was the political ambitions of Yeltsin and his inner circle. If Chechnya seceded, the spirit of rebellion could spread to the rest of the North Caucasus, and all of Russia could fall apart. (P51)

And the last about respect of culture:

Isa had lost what he most valued: Chechnya’s cultural treasures. ‘The national museum in Grozny was bombed after Russian forces looted what they thought worth preserving: European paintings, anything made of gold and silver, precious stones and metals. Chechen and Caucasian art was blown to pieces.’ (P37)

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a work of superb journalism. As a warning it is at times harrowing to read.

The main topic is war – the war launched by Russia into Chechnya in the 1990s and then again by Putin in 1999 that lasted for ten years (this book was published in 2007).

War devastates the people and the land. There is an interesting quote at the beginning of one of the chapters in the book from a school leaflet.

Page 317 (my book)

Which road would you choose: the one that is overgrown with grass and flowers, or the one that is full of trash and tyre tracks?

Correct answer: where people walk (throw away trash) and cars drive (tyre tracks) there is the least danger of land mines.

War inverts everything. The authors’ interviews and experiences aptly demonstrate this. She travels throughout Chechnya. She spends time at an orphanage with young children who have been psychologically damaged by the war.

She does a macabre interview with Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov. He is playing a balancing act on many levels – juggling Putin, Islam, and his conservative society and rebuilding Chechnya with considerable financial aid from Russia. He is waging a war against radical Wahhabis and those who want Chechnya to be an independent state.

Page 246

One subject constantly crops up in Chechen conversation.
Honour.
A soldier’s honour, a nations honour, a leader’s honour, a woman’s honour. It’s the latter that riles people the most. Honour killings are widespread.

People inform on each other – no one can trust anyone. Some are abducted by government thugs because they are suspected of being Wahhabis and/or against Ramzan Kadyrov. After months, or years, they may reappear – and are then seen as damaged goods. It is not recommended to be seen with them or their families.

In many ways Chechnya is at the mercy of both Putin and Ramzan Kadyrov. This is a dangerous game being played by these two powerful prima donnas.

The author gives us many different perspectives of life in Chechnya and also Russia. In Moscow there is a trial of right-wing thugs who attacked a Chechen mother and her child. We are given a very grim view of young soldiers (young men) in the Russian army recruited to fight in Chechnya with little training.

Page 293

The Russian army is sparing with numbers, but at least fifteen thousand young men are said to have been killed in action in Chechnya during the past decade (2004). Three times as many have been wounded.

Page 303 Klaudia – a mother of a brain damaged army recruit injured by a landmine

“Now he’s redundant, no one needs him. No one! No one has bothered to update his records. When he wouldn’t sign up for three more years of military service, they threatened him, flattered him, and finally bought him – or swindled him; he saw nothing of the money they promised him. But now! Now he no longer exists for them!”

There is also a vivid conversation on a train to Moscow with Russians who almost appear to be reminiscent of the lost past under Stalin. They also have a very racist view of Chechens – as being sub-human.

The author brings up the long persecution of the Chechen people. They were forcibly deported by Stalin in the Second World War (as were other ethnic groups) hundreds of miles away to Kazakhstan. Only after Khrushchev became leader were they allowed to return – by which time many had died.

This is a searing book and I am very impressed. It is the third book I have read of this author – the other two being “The Bookseller of Kabul” and “One of Us”.

[Jacob Sebæk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don´t know where to begin …

During the Great Patriotic War – synonymous with every war Russia/USSR have fought since the Napoleon War – Chechens were enrolled, more or less voluntarily, into the Red Army and fought bravely.

Nevertheless, in 1944 Ingush and Chechens were falsely accused of supporting Nazi Germany, around 500.000 human beings, 60% of the entire population, was deported to Kazakhstan, many perished during the long train travel. At the same time a lot were just shot and left to rot where apprehended as it made the transport logistics easier.

In 1956, during the “De-Stalination” whoever survived were allowed to return to their original homeland – that in the meantime had been taken over by various other ethnic groups – fugitives or people dreaming of an easier life or being offered bonuses for moving elsewhere in USSR now lived in the houses build generations ago and there was no chance of restoring this.
Now begins the russification of Chechnya under a new era – but there is no love lost between Chechnya and Russia. Even so, there is relative peace until 1990/1991 when first talks about independency of states and later the break-up of USSR resulted in the declaration that Chechnya never was independent and certainly not should be it now. But Chechnya declared its independence anyway, tensions are growing.

In 1994 Boris Yeltsin starts the First Chechnyan War – and here the reporting from the independent journalist Åsne Seierstad begins.

The title of the book refers to the surrogate mother running an orphanage in Grozny.
All portrayals are approved by the people portrayed, though some have had their names changed for safety reasons.

It is an eyewatering reading experience and even the author is quite balanced there can be no doubt who suffers most and that this suffering is passed on to new generations.
We meet the children bereaved of parent or guardians, the ones who learned to fight for themselves at all cost and the ones that are living timebombs.
We meet the mothers of soldiers from both sides of the war, some casting guilt others defending Mother Russia and everything she does now and in eternity. And we meet the grieving mothers, the ones who lost every male member of the family.

And then we med Ramzan Kadyrov, the Russia puppet who embraces Islam and runs his private army and prison and was “elected” leader of Chechnya.

Some may say that the balance in the reporting is not fair, that there has been committed war crimes from both sides, terror actions within Russian by Chechnyan separatists etc. etc., but as usual there is only one aggressor, the system, it being the Communist Party or the State Duma operating a narrative that the former USSR republics are populated by some sort of sub humans who should either be ruled over hard-handedly or be exterminated.
It is all there, and the reader may come to his/her own conclusion.

However, my conclusion is clear as the last 32 years of Russian warfare shows, Russia is a terrorist state!




1991–1993 Georgian Civil War
1991–1992 South Ossetian War
1992–1993 War in Abkhazia
1992 Transnistria War
1992 East Prigorodny Conflict
1992–1997 Tajikistani Civil War
1994–1996 First Chechen War
1999 War of Dagestan
1999–2009 Second Chechen War
2008 Russo-Georgian War
2009–2017 Insurgency in the North Caucasus
2014–present Russo-Ukrainian War
2015–present Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
2018–present Central African Republic Civil War

[Jonfaith · Rating 2 out of 5]

It may be effective for Errol Morris to allow his interviewees to gush unchecked and create a culpable subtext. This is a fine strategy - for him. It works well on film. Pages of raving do not make for persuasive or evocative prose. If the person in question is a young man leaning towards jihad or a Russian reactionary whose son has been imprisoned for a hate crime, it doesn't lead anywhere to have pages of stuttering conspiracy theories and gnashing hate speech.

I couldn't tell if Angel of Grozny wanted to be journalism or a memoir. It was closer to the latter, though hobbled by overly creative writing and a sore lack of editing. Åsne Seierstad is likely a fine journalist, her perseverance at seeing first hand both wars in Chechnya is intrepid without question. As a Russian speaker, she was able to access personal elements well beyond a World Service broadcast. That may be the problem right there. These are stories, grounded in a nightmare but as interchangeable as those on any newscast. The trauma at the heart of this is extremely graphic and uncomfortable. There are simply better ways of approaching it.

[Amr Mohamed · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب يوضح جزء من معاناة الشعب الشيشاني بعد غزو روسيا الاول للشيشان عام ١٩٩٤ عن طريق استقصاء صحفي للكاتبة خلال رحلتها داخل الشيشان منذ بداية الغزو ثم العودة خلال الحرب الثانية و ايضا عند تسليم الرئاسة لقديروف ، استفدت من الكتاب بعض المعلومات ، منها ان ستالين قرر ترحيل اهل الشيشان كلهم عام ١٩٤٤  لسيبيريا وآسيا الوسطي ومات تقريبا نصف السكان في الطريق  وتم عودتهم لبلادهم عام ١٩٥٧ ، قرار بترحيل شعب بأكمله !!

قابلت الصحفية بعض العائلات في الشيشان وكانت قصصهم لا يوجد بها إلا الاسي لجميع افراد العائلة حتي الأطفال
كان من ضمنهم  قصة لأم ، زوجها واخوها ماتوا اثناء معركة ضد روسيا ، فذهبت مع طفلها وسلفتها لجلب بضاعة سعرها قليل لتبيعها في غروزني لكسب اي مال ،  يتم ايقافهم علي حدود داغستان ، واعتقال الام وابنها ذو الثلاث سنوات ولم يعثر احد علي الأم بعد القبض عليها ، ولكن بعد فترة ظهر طفل في التلفزيون عند مدخل مبني سكني في داغستان لاعلان البحث عن اقاربه ، وظهر الطفل يحدق إلي الكاميرا بعينين خائفتين وحرق احمر علي جبهته فسافر الجد سريعا ليلحق بالطفل ، ووجد الطفل في محطة التلفاز ومشي الطفل نحو جده بتعثر ، لقد تغير الصبي كليا اذ إن قضاء اسبوعين في السجن جعله جبانا وخائفا من اي شخص يتحدث اليه ، وعند عودته ساءلت الجدة امن الممكن ان يعذبوا طفل في الثالثة !

زارت الصحفية عائلة وتحدثت مع أم قتل اربعة من ابنائها وبعد فترة كانت تريد الاطمئنان علي احوال الام فذهبت للقرية وسئلت اريد ان اقابل العائلة التي فقدت اربعة من الابناء فكان الرد اي عائلة؟  يوجد في القرية امهات كثير فقدوا اربعة من أبنائهم

تلك قصة ومثال بسيط من الكتاب لبعض من قابلتهم الصحفية فقط ،  ويوجد غيرهم الالاف ولكن لم يتحدث إليهم احد لينقل ما عانوه

اخر جزء بالكتاب اجرت الصحفية مقابلات مع مسئولين حكومة الشيشان وشباب جامعي ومع وقديروف وايضا لقاءات مع بعض الروس وايضاح بعض ارائهم العنصرية  وختمت بلقاء مع جندي روسي حارب واتصاب بالعمي خلال الحرب ضد الشيشان ولكن راءيه انهم يستحقون وانه الشيشان والافغان الذين بداءوا الغزو وان بوتين طيب
ده كان مفروض يداس علي وشه بدبابة

تقييمي ٣.٥

[زاهي رستم · Rating 4 out of 5]

بالرغم من موقفي المعارض لكل الحروب، مهما كانت أهدافها.. فهي ما تزال دليلاً على تخلف تفكيرنا.. وإيماننا أن حفنة من القوة، خير من كيس من الحق..
بالرغم من موقفي هذا.. لا يمكنني كعارف بتاريخ الحروب القفقاسية منذ زمن القياصرة.. إلا أن أكون إلى جانب الشعب الشيشاني.. الذي عشق الحرية والوطن أكثر من أي شيء آخر.. ولكن الحرب بالنسبة لي تعني انخراط الجميع في الاخطاء.. والعنف يولد عنفاً مضاداً..
ربما تعتقد روسيا بوتين أنها انتصرت بحربها مع الشيشان.. وذلك عن طريق تحويل حربها معهم إلى حرب بين الشيشان أنفسهم.. كما فعلت ذلك إحدى الدول المارقة في منطقتنا.. ولكن لا أحد انتصر في تلك الحرب.. والكل مكلل بالهزيمة

الكتاب جيد جداً.. ويستحق القراءة

ملاحظة للمترجم، ولكل من يخوض غمار الشؤون القفقاسية.. يجب استخدام كلمة قفقاس، قفقاسي، قفقاسية.. بدلا من قوقاز قوقازي قوقازية.. فالتسمية الثانية وهي الخطأ تم استخدامها من قبل القياصرة والسوفييت.. دعماً لشعب القوزاق الذي تم استخدامه لمحاربة القفقاسيين وتم توطنيهم محل السكان الاصليين

[Anushree Rastogi · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I started reading this book, the Boston bombings hadn't yet happened and Chechnya was a country that had been conveniently forgotten like so many war-torn nations of the world. It was therefore with feelings of apprehension and excitement at getting to know a little more about the Soviet Union, my latest interest, that I picked this one up.

Then of course, there was a bomb blast. People died and , suddenly, the internet was flooded with information on this seemingly insignificant nation with an area a tenth of Wisconsin and a population of a little more than a million.

This review is special for reasons I cannot quite describe. The haunting descriptions that Seirstad comes up with through her impeccable accounts of this war-zone will stay with you for a lifetime.

The political reason behind the Chechen Wars is simple:
Dudayev wanted Chechnya to break away not just from the Soviet Union but from Russia as well. Boris Yeltsin, the driving force behind the fall of the Soviet Union, wanted to keep Russia's borders intact at any cost and refused to accept secession.
Dudayev began a war of words with Yeltsin. “Russianism is worse than Nazism”, “Boris Yeltsin heads a gang of murderers” and his regime is the “diabolic heir to a totalitarian monster.” For its part, the Russian government introduced an amazingly ineffective trade embargo and cut important subsidies; the only thing the Russian state paid was pensions to help local Russians remain in Chechnya. The huge reduction in financial aid added to the chaos and corruption, and soon Dudayev's regime was even less able to pay salaries than Governments elsewhere in Russia. A Moscow bank robbery by Chechen criminals netted almost a billion dollars; most of the money was brought back to Chechnya. Grozny became a center of smuggling, fraud and money laundering, while the government's role in the republic was collapsing.
Meanwhile, the hawks in Yeltsin's administration wanted a “small victorious war”, something that would increase their popularity among nationalistic Russians after an ultra-nationalist candidate, Vladimir Zhirnovsky, had won about every fourth vote in the parliamentary election. However, the main reason for invading Chechnya was the political ambitions of Yeltsin and his inner circle. If Chechnya seceded, the spirit of rebellion could spread through rest of North Caucasus, and all of Russia could fall apart.

Chechnya: the wolf, however, would not relent. The separatists chose this beast as the emblem of their republic. The free, wild wolf was the Chechen, the tame, cowardly dog was the Russian. It was after all, the only animal that dared to take on something stronger than itself. What it lacked in strength and size, it made up for with limitless audacity and courage. It loved freedom, could not be tamed, and would rather die fighting that surrender.

Pursuing the subject with an unbiased view, Seirstad presents all faces of the Chechen story: the systematic destruction of the art, history and culture of this little mountain country, the rampant spread of Wahabism and the consequential rise of terrorist activities, societies changing attitudes on women, family and honor and the plight of the people involved in the war: both Chechen and Russian, which has led to considerable hatred on both sides and the incessant rise of racially provoked crimes in Russia, particularly, Moscow.

She writes:
“A census would have revealed many things. Soviet figures from 1989 show that the number of Chechens had just reached one million. Since the wars started, five years after that, around one hundred thousand Chechens have been killed. Among the dead are thousands of children. They could hardly be called bandits or terrorists, as teh authorities label those who resist....
You can try to count the dead. You can argue about the numbers. You can count the maimed. You can argue about those numbers, too. What does it matter to loose a leg. An arm. To become crippled. To become blind. To have your hearing blasted away.
Where in the statistics do you find a violated childhood?”
The Beslan school tragedy where 330 primary school kids were ruthlessly killed is proof enough of her assertions.

As a result of the war, this country is losing that which it values the most: it's cultural treasures.
“The National Museum in Grozny was bombed after the Russian troops looted what they thought worth preserving:European paintings, anything made of gold and silver, precious stones and metals. Chechen and Caucasian art was blown to pieces. Small, unique clusters of buildings, dating as far back as the twelfth century have been leveled to the ground.”

A country rattled by war and political uncertainty is bound to give in to religious fundamentalism. As per Jokhar Dudayev's interview in 1996:
“Lack of western help in building a democratic Russian state after the Soviet Union's collapse was what made the Chechen's look towards Sharia- Muslim laws and regulations.”
In view of this, the situation is growing from bad to worse. Two ideologies: Wahabism and Sufism are now pitted against each other. In Chechnya the mania for mythologizing has free rein. One theory or story is just as believable as the next. The most important thing for people is that the story fits in with their belief system.
It is therefore no surprise that the society is governed strictly by religious rules that are decreed arbitrarily. Women are repressed and are delegated to a secondary status.
“Woman, subject yourself to your husband. It is wrong for a wife to try to rise to a man's level. Then she degrades her husband; she is a woman, after all. Se can't do everything...”
In a society where women are thought of as carriers of a family's virtue, honor killings and gender repression is on the rise.
Women and children, as always, are the worst sufferers. It being deemed “improper” for women to work, they have no means to earn a livelihood once they have lost their men in the war.
As for the children, one of Ramzan Kadyrov's first acts as president was to close down all public orphanages, as, according to him, they went against Chechen tradition. Leaving thousands of children on the street, with no means of fending for themselves or protecting themselves against physical and mental abuse.

Oppression on the basis of gender is, however, not the only issue plaguing the Chechen society. When Putin came to power, a lot changed.
“Putin has understood something that never concerned Yeltsin: the power of the free word. Whereas you could travel freely to Chechnya at the beginning of the war, it is now illegal and impossible for a foreigner....
I don't have permission to be in North Ossetia, where we are now, or in any of the other Caucasian Republics. For that, I would need a KTO card, that is to say, permission to be in an area of kontra-terroristicheskaya operatsia-counter terrorist operations-and in order to get a KTO card you have to be on a Government organized visit.”

The atmosphere is stifling and tense. People disappear overnight- often, forever. Families are watched and harrassed by the FSB and the Kadyrovtsi and it is not uncommon for a family to lose all male members within a span of few months-followed by an agonizing search for their bodies, which are often found dumped in ditches with parts missing and torture marks all over them; if they are found at all.

“People are more afraid now than during the war. It's like Moscow in the thirties. People inform on each other, they disappear in the night and never return. No one trusts anyone anymore, because Putin had a stroke of genius: he let Ramzan Kadyrov do the dirty work. Now its Chechen against Chechen.”
It's called “Chechnising” the conflict. Whereas before the Russian forces committed the worst abuses, now the Chechen militia maintains control in a society maimed by fear.
Asne Seirstad travels through this forgotten hell and interacts with those who have lost their all, bringing back harrowing tales of terror and unimaginable violence: fear that keeps the society quiet.
It is the society where the assassination of those who speak against the regime: journalists like Anna Politkovskaya is inevitable.

The situation in Chechnya being what it is, the Chechens don't have it easy elsewhere in Russia either. An estimated fifty thousand racial attacks occur in Russia every year. The number is increasing. Few people dare to report the assaults. The police often sympatise more with the attacker that with the victim. Only a few hundered incidents are reported every year; along with a fifty racially motivated murders. The perpetrators are seldom prosecuted; a conviction is even rarer.
People from the Caucasus in general, and Chechnya in particular top the list of hate figures and have the lowest reputation among ordinary Russians. Chechens have problems registering in Russian cities, enrolling children at school, getting jobs, finding places to live.

They have reason too, they have lost their boys there. In a war against those people who are almost as hated as the Afghans. The roots of their repugnance go a long way back.

Seierstad does develop an anti-Russian sentiment, it is true, as she meets and interacts with the long suffering people of this nation. She has, however, tried to view all angles of this story. A path-breaking book from a woman who was asked to write about spring fashions instead of Chechnya, it is great for starting out and getting to know more about a part of the world that has such rich history and has shaped so much of our modern day beliefs: politically and socially.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third Seierstad book I've read, but this book makes her the most approachable. That probably lies in the fact that many of her experiences in the book are very personal to in that they occurred at the beginning of her journalistic career and were very frightening (often, frankly, quite foolhardy) and, perhaps, therefore hold greater weight in her memories.

Seierstad does an excellent job of explaining the complexities of the Chechen War and why independence is so important to the Chechens. She also does a wonderful job of showing the effect of that war (or wars, depending on how you look at it) on the land, politics, economy, families, individuals, and children. She also examines the view and effect from the other side--Russia's.

I learned a great deal about the areas, the war, the peoples of both sides, and I appreciate the dangers she put herself in to get the information. My education has been enlarged and I won't soon forget many of the people I met through her book. Recommended.

[Khawlah Abdullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

تبدأ أولى خطوات الرواية من بين الركام والأشلاء والدماء ، في عتمة الجرح يظهر الطفل ( تيمور ) ملطخاً بالغبار والدماء والألم ، يكويه صقيع شتاء قروزني الجريجة ، وتلسعه سياط الحرمان فتُمزق وجه الطفل الذي بداخله وتُحيله لذئبٍ جريحٍ يَصبّ جام غضبه على الكلاب الشريدة ، يقتلها ويُمزقها لـ أشلاء .

بعد أن شح مصدر المعلومات المتعلقة بالحرب ، تبدأ الصحفية آسني سييرستاد رحلتها من موسكو متوجهة إلى قروزني التي كانت تشتعل بنيران الحرب والموت آنذاك .
في ظروفٍ صعبة حيث يختبئ الموت في كل زاوية وينتشر القناصة في الطرقات وبين الأشجار ، تنتقل آسني بين مُدن وقرى الشيشان ، تلتقي بعائلات فقدت أفرادها في الحرب أو في الإختطافات والتعذيب ، تُسجل اعترافات وقصص مُروعة عن وحشية كلاب السوفييت والفظائع التي ارتكبوها في حق المدنييين وعائلات الثوّار والتنكيل بهم ..

الرواية مليئة بآهات الفقد ، وأنين المُعذبين ، بالخسائر .. خسارة الوطن واللغة والأحباب .
أسوأ فصل في الرواية وأشده ألما ، مُذكرات (بشلام) الذي كان في التاسعة من عمره عندما تم ترحيله مع عائلته إلى كازاخستان ، محنة الترحيل أسوأ محنة عانى منها الشعب الشيشاني ، فقد لقي أكثر من نصف السكان حتفهم في الطريق إلى كازاخستان ، في ظروف مُريعة وعصيّة على أن يَعبرها الإنسان دون أن يخسر الكثير الكثير ..

،

عانت الصحفية آسني الكثير ، تعرضت للموت عدّة مرات ، تسللت إلى قروزني في ظروف خطرة ، تحمّلت البرد والخوف وخاطرت بحياتها في سبيل الكلمة الحرة ، أرادت أن تنقل أصوات الضعفاء وتكشف الوجه القبيح للظلم الذي كان يفتك بالإنسان في قروزني الجريحة ..

فـ شكراً لها ، وللأحرار الأوفياء ..
ولا نامت أعين الجبناء ..

[Giorgi Javakhishvili · Rating 5 out of 5]

ერთ-ერთი ყველაზე საშინელი ტექსტია, რაც კი წამიკითხავს. ალბათ იმიტომ რომ სხვა ჯალათებისგან განსხვავებით ჩეჩნეთის ომისა და რეპრესიების შემოქმედი ხალხი ისევ აქტიურ პოლიტიკაშია და ისევ იმავეს აგრძელებენ, რაზეც ოსნე საეიშტადი წერს - ოღონდ ამჯერად უკრაინაში.
თბილისიდან გროზნომდე უფრო მოკლე გზაა, ვიდრე ბათუმამდე. ამ გეოგრაფიული მოჯადოებიდან უნდა გამოვიდეთ და გავიაზროთ რა ხდებოდა და ხდება ჩვენგან ძალიან ახლოს, მაგრამ ჯერ კიდევ უცნობ მხარეებში.

[لطيفة الحاج · Rating 4 out of 5]

اتممت قراءة ملاك غروزني بعد أيام من الغصات المتتالية والمزاج الكئيب الذي أدخلتني فيه الرواية والتي هي في الحقيقة أقرب إلى مذكرات الصحفية النرويجية خلال فترة إقامتها في غروزني والشيشان. نقلت الصحفية الأحداث والمواقف التي تعرضت لها والأشخاص الذين التقت بهم وعاشت معهم وقاسمتهم الطعام والشراب والقصص التي تعتصر لها القلوب.

هنالك قصص وحكايات عن أطفال مشردين وأيتام وجرحى حرب وأمهات فقدت أبناءهن وأرامل وعرائس لا يعرفن شيئا عن أزواجهن. الكثير من الألم والحزن والتعاطف، لا أذكر أنني ابتسمت خلال قراءتي للرواية، عبوس ودموع وغصات.

فكرت كيف يمكن أن يعيش أولئك الناس هكذا؟ وتخيلت نفسي مرارا في مكان أولئك النسوة أو الفتيات الصغيرات.

في العالم مآسي كثيرة، سببها مجرمو الحروب. كنت أحمد الله كثيرا على نعمة الأمن والأمان، فعلا نحن في نعمة.

هذا الكتاب من الكتب التي ستبقى طويلا في ذاكرتي.

مللت في منتصفه وفي الفصول التي تحدثت فيها عن محاولاتها لمقابلة زعيم الشيشانيين رمزان قديروف، والمقابلات التي أجرتها مع بعض الجنود والفقرات التي خصصتها لسرد وقائع سياسية تخص وضع الشيشان في تلك الفترة.

تذكرت جيدا غروزني والحرب بين الشيشان والروس عندما كانت الجرائد تكتب عنها.

أظنني بعد هذا الكتاب أحتاج إلى كتاب مبهج يخرجني من السوداوية التي غصت فيها خلال ساعات قراءته والدقائق التي تلي توقفي عن القراءة


تستحق الخمسة نجوم لولا الملل الذي أصابني في بعض فصولها.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

War is bad. Here's why: Åsne Seierstad’s first assignment as a journalist was as Moscow correspondent for a Norwegian newspaper. What she lacked in writing experience, she made up for in her fluent Russian and fearlessness. By stealth, as well as official invitation, she spent over a decade reporting from Chechnya. Her meetings with the Chechen president, whose image in tandem with his father, (the murdered ex-president) is ubiquitious, would be hilarious were the leaders not so thuggish and brutal. The government co-opts fundamentalist Islam with its own conservative form of the religion as interpreted on a television program by the President’s uncle. It is with the average Chechen, though, that Seierstad brings clarity to a situation almost nobody outside Chechnya knows about. Kidnappings, disappearances, informers are part of daily life. Seierstad could use a few lessons about metaphor and pathos, but as investigative journalism, this is a good one. By the way, support your local independent bookstore. If you buy this through amazon.com you're a fool and I won't be your friend.

[Mark Sequeira]

Okay, now at the end of the book, I will still say buy it and read it. Sad, unfortunate, desperate, will it ever end? Even though I borrowed it from the library, I will be buying it.



Read the first paragraph, then the first chapter/introduction(?) and see if you can put it down. Sad, depressing, shocking all describe this book and the horrible terror of being Chechen in the Caucasus/Ichkeria today. I will have to come back and write a full review but more people should know about what's going on in Chechnya and unfortunately so few do.



Read it. It will keep you up at night. It will make you want to forget during the day. But you won't be able to. The best thing about this book is how you get a look at the changes happening in Chechnya, from Wahabis fighting 'traditional' Sufi-type Muslims to Chechens supporting Kadyrov killing Chechens that oppose Russian influence.



So, it's been some months but as I said, I went out and bought the book because I wanted it in my library. It's that good.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish more American reporting was like this book. Yes, I know Seirstad is from Norway but I can wish.

This is a good luck at how war effects and affects society on a micro and macro level. The focus is a married couple who have taken in orphans, but Seierstad focuses on other families as well. This is actual more gripping than Bookseller of Kabul and quite is rather more brutal.

[Noor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book definitely deserves no less than five stars!

The gifted writer describes her experiences in Chechnya along more than fifteen years. During the first war, the second war, and in the recent times, under the presidency of Ramazan Qadirov.

How much unknown pain was suffered in Chechnya! How much suffering passed away without any one knowing about! How many people disappeared without a single person knowing where they have gone! how much fear and drastic memories are there instilled in the hearts of the children of yesterday, and the men and women of today!

The writer describes the atrocities of war in a way that leaves no space for any comments!

Although she seems to throw some blame on the 'Islamic Fundamentalism' in the war complications, still, a huge difference can be seen between the way in which she speaks about war lords, where one can sense alot of respect and admiration, and the way in which she speaks about Ramazan Qadirov, the dummy president of Chechnya today.

The writer also seems to be aware of the dirty trick included in the appointment of Qadirov.

I recommend the book for every one who wants to take a close insight about the terrifying war in Chechnya.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit I am biased about loving this book because I basically want to be Asne Seierstad. That said, this was an excellent book about those who are affected by war. And recently. And not in Iraq or Afghanistan. It's the story of people, especially children, caught in the war in Chechnya.

It's funny that I can't stand to watch violent tv shows or movies, but I'm compelled to read books like this. Further, I'm grateful to people like Seierstad for traveling to dangerous places and talking to dangerous people to bring me this story. I think the world needs more of this truth. If nothing else, it makes you really appreciate all that you have.

[Nour Alaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

إيه ده يا شيخة؟؟؟ بجد و الله إيه ده؟؟؟
الرواية وهم
من تفاصيل لشخصيات لأحداث لأسلوب لترجمة
كل حاجة برفكت كده !!
450 صفحة من المتعة و الأحداث
بتتكلم عن الشيشان
من وقت ما كانت في الاتحاد السوفييتي و لحد 2007
تفاصيل الحرب الأولي و التانية و الأحداث اللي حصلت قبلهم و بعدهم
منطقة منسية و شعب تم تشريده و قتله و تعذيبه و لسه برضه لغاية دلوقتي
قصة مؤثرة و الأفضل فيما قرأت السنة دي ♥

[Michal Mironov · Rating 5 out of 5]

WARNING: Probably the most depressing and powerful book I have ever read... This is not an ordinary collection of oral history gathered during one trip to Chechnya. The author kept coming back to the country again and again during the years – officially and secretly – thoroughly interviewing people from all sides: from orphans on the streets to the powerful dictator Kadyrov. She uncompromisingly confronted the families of black widows, religious fanatics as well as the Russian skinheads in Moscow. And she paid a price for that: „From being captivated by the poetry, the music, in search of ‘the Russian soul’, I became aware of the racism, the nationalism, the corruption of senior government officials, the ignorance, the bleak history. Little by little I became almost anti-Russian.“ And I must admit that it deeply affected me too as a reader. Adding some quotations so you better grasp why:

On Christmas in Chechnya: „The Christmas tree was decorated (by Chechen kids) with the skeleton of a dead Russian. A snaiper - sharpshooter - who had been shot on a rooftop, had rotted there in the blazing sun and was later washed clean by rain and snow...“

Information leaflet for schoolkids in Chechnya: „Which road would you choose: the one that is overgrown with grass and flowers, or the one that is full of trash and tyre tracks? Correct answer: where people walk (throw away trash) and cars drive (tyre tracks) there is the least danger of landmines.“

How the war devastated Chechen society: „Adults who abuse children. I know it happens everywhere, all over the world. But most societies have ways of limiting it - norms, rules. We - Chechens - have them too, of course. Very strict rules, in fact. But when a society comes unravelled, the rules unravel as well; nobody pays attention, people have their own concerns, so sadists can find ways to sneak off and do their wicked deeds.“

On atmosphere in Grozny: „Something about Chechen men gives the impression that they are always prepared. Ready to attack or to defend themselves. It’s as if they are filled with a perpetual, unreleased tension. Temperament simmers in the city. There is adrenalin in the air. Judging by what you see on the streets, dreamers are few and far between in Chechnya; you don’t get many people strolling about aimlessly philosophising.“

On atmosphere of fear in Chechnia: „It’s like Moscow in the thirties. People inform on each other, they disappear in the night and never return. No one trusts anyone else any more, because Putin had a stroke of genius: he let Ramzan Kadyrov do the dirty work. Now it’s Chechen against Chechen.“

A „small talk“ in Beslan: „One of the terrorists said to a mother who begged them to release the youngest children: ‘My children have been shot too. Are your children better than mine?“

How even Kadyrov’s generals despise the Russian allies: „(Drunken Russian general) bellows to all sides, while the distinguished and decorated Chechen leaders smile politely but with a trace of disgust. What is this barbarian doing here with us? the faces say. Even in the puppet regime, the connection with the Russians is more one of need than of pleasure.“

Still willing to learn more? Go ahead and read the book.

[Gremrien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read one book by Åsne Seierstad very recently (“One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway”) and wasn’t especially impressed by her journalistic style, plus the book was too long and overloaded to my liking and eventually felt like a not-very-wisely-spent time. So I was skeptical about this book about Chechnya, especially considering that I have serious doubts about the adequacy of reporting about the war in Chechnya by any foreign journalist. However, I learned about this book just when I was eagerly looking for books about the Chechen wars and Chechnya overall, and I decided that I should try this one as well.

And you know what? — I liked it. At least, I liked it more than “One of Us,” although “One of Us” objectively is probably a much more serious and mature work. Still, even while you see how inexperienced and haphazard Åsne Seierstad looks in this earlier book as a journalist, you respect her attempt to show multiple aspects of Chechnya that tell a lot to people who are already interested in the subject.

I would not recommend reading this book as your first or only immersion into the “Chechnya problem.” For this purpose, Анна Политковская’s book is much, much better. However, if you already know something about Chechnya, its relationships with Russia, and the wars of 1993-2000s, this book may be a very good supplementary material for learning more about many important aspects.

Åsne Seierstad was a foreign correspondent in Moscow for some time (she knows/speaks Russian very well) and traveled to Chechnya several times, first with the government’s permission, and later, when foreign journalists were mostly not allowed into Chechnya, secretly, under disguise. She was there in 1994, during the First Chechen War, but she was very young then and her visit was too short, so she basically did not understand much and her reporting about this time is very brief and murky. Later, when she already knew what she wanted to see and do in Chechnya, she returned there in 2006 and spent some time living with Chechen people and talking to them. She also tried to understand what is going on with the newly appointed local government and even interviewed Ramzan Kadyrov (with mutual disgust, I think).

Her reporting may look somewhat naive and non-systematic: she talks to regular people, including children, and adds her personal observations, together with various details that may look not especially important, and she comments shortly about the history of Chechnya and the most recent events there, and then she already in Russia and talks about Russian people and what they think about Chechnya and the wars, etc. However, all this makes a lot of sense as different facets of one huge problem, and there is a lot of intimate honesty in this journalistic style. I liked this very humane approach to talking about unimaginable things that were still unfolding at the time of her research and observations. By style, it reminded me “Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall” by Anna Funder. If you like one of these books, you would like the other one, too.

The most original aspect of this book is that it shows us mostly the situation in Chechnya AFTER the wars: what was happening under the rule of Ramzan Kadyrov when Chechnya was gradually “pacified” into a very quiet but very disturbing (psychologically and politically), grim and hopeless, society.

“‘People are more afraid now than during the war,’ Zaira had said to me after we crossed the border into Chechnya. ‘It’s like Moscow in the thirties. People inform on each other, they disappear in the night and never return. No one trusts anyone else any more, because Putin had a stroke of genius: he let Ramzan Kadyrov do the dirty work. Now it’s Chechen against Chechen.’ It’s called ‘chechenising’ the conflict. Whereas before, Russian forces committed the worst abuses, now the Chechen militia maintains control in a society maimed by fear.
Despite the official ‘normalisation’ in the republic, murders, disappearances and torture continue. What people fear most are Kadyrov’s security forces, the Kadyrovtsi. They operate prisons and camps, and are notorious for their brutality; the few prisoners who have returned alive tell of gruesome torture. Films taken by the executioners themselves and now circulating on video cassettes and mobile phones show people tortured to death.”

And yes, although this book is about Chechnya rather than Russia, you can learn about Russia A LOT from it in an indirect way. The things that would shock and hurt you, especially if you loved Russia before (as Åsne Seierstad did, and as many foreigners tend to, despite everything). It’s a pity that not many people are willing to learn about the things Russia and all these “good, kind, generous, cultured, literature-and-art-loving” Russian people do to other nations/people, and continue to love them.

“‘So what do you like about Russia?’
‘Me?’
‘Yes, you.’
‘Well, the literature, the music,’ I said, and couldn’t come up with anything else. What had happened to me? Once I searched for the Russian soul with fascination and uncontrollable curiosity. On my travels around the empire in third class I was filled with enthusiasm and amazement. Had I become too negative? Disappointed?”

*

“The trips to Chechnya changed me. When I went back to Moscow to recuperate, I became depressed, had lost my drive. I just wanted to go back again. Real life was in the mountains, where people were waging a life-and-death struggle. Little by little I became almost anti-Russian. From being captivated by the poetry, the music, in search of ‘the Russian soul’, I became aware of the racism, the nationalism, the corruption of senior government officials, the ignorance, the bleak history; as Anton Chekhov put it: ‘Russian life is like a thousand-pound stone, it grinds a Russian down till there’s not even a wet patch left.'”

Overall, the book was a great addition to my impromptu “Chechnya project” but I am glad that I have read this book as the last one, not as “initial/basic material.” My recommendations if you want to deepen your understanding of the issue, plus read some good journalistic work. I wish this book was translated into Ukrainian, but it would need some contemporary commentaries and additional materials then, I suppose.

[Tina Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informasjonssuppe til tider, men verdt å lese!

[Hans Brienesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a grand book to read albeit quite depressing at times. It is written with the author's usual eye for the minutest details of the misery of the human condition in morally-, religiously-, and politically-repressed countries.
From the abandoned children to the ignored soldiers to the honour killings to the simmering substrate of emotion that is identity, this is a tale of woe indeed. A religious system that will not bend meets a political system that will not yield. and the nut that is cracked between them are the innocents.
How telling was it that the Chechen rebels did not admit to the brutalities administered to the Russian soldiers, and the average Russian citizen sees the Chechens as filthy rabble yet both were at great pains to portray their version as correct.
All I can say is I am thankful we live in a more enlightened country with complete freedom of the press!
The author as usual has been meticulous about making sure all the details are correct and also her characters get the chance to read what she has written before it is published thus ensuring there is no confusion.
If you have any interest at all in conflicts of politics and religon read this book.

[Jule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seierstad, a Norwegian reporter, was 24 when she first left Moscow to go into Chechnya - it was her first year of working as a journalist - to report about the life and ongoings during the first war. Her account is a tremendous work that blends political with historical facts, offers a great insight into Chechen and Russian culture and last but not least documents her personal experiences during the first and second Chechen wars. Especially for her documentation of human tragedy in a time of violent political conflict her work is so important. Seierstad witnessed the first conflict closely and then secretly, i.e. without official Russian authorisation, returned 10 years later in 2006 to observe and document the conflict once again with her own eyes - despite the existing Russian information blockade and in critical disbelief of the official Russian media propaganda. For anyone who wants to learn about the Russian-Chechen conflict in political, cultural and historical context I find this a great read.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew nothing of Chechnya before reading this book and, although it's dangerous to take any one account of such a complex situation as gospel, I do feel more informed. And that is one of the triumphs of this book - that it makes clear the lack of clarity, and the complexity, of ancient regional warfare. Although there is great sympathy for the Chechens, Seierstad is careful to illuminate the stories of Russians too. Ultimately it's a bleak book, and there is no sign of resolution, but in the details of the stories of the individuals caught up in these conflicts run by the safe and the powerful, there is great humanity. Even in the devastated ruins of cities there are angels.

[إيمان الشريف · Rating 5 out of 5]

هذا الكتاب ليس جديداً فقد نُشر في عام 2007 وتُرجم بعدها بسنتين. مع ذلك يبدو أن الأوضاع في الشيشان لم تتغير كثيراً منذ ذلك الوقت، فما زال رمضان قديروف رئيساً للشيشان، ويمكنك أن تقرأ الكتاب دون أن تشعر بمرور تسع سنوات على إصداره.

تكتب آسني سييرستاد باحترافية وحياد. تصف كل شيء وتقابل أناساً مختلفين من الشعبين الشيشاني والروسي. ورغم أن هذا الكتاب لم ينل حظه من الشهرة مثل كتابها السابق (بائع الكتب في كابول)، إلا أنه بالنسبة لي لا يقل عنه أهمية بل ربما يتجاوزه، أو ربما أنني أنا قرأته بوعي أكبر.

الكتاب يقع في أربعة وعشرين وفصلاً، وهو بالطبع يحوي العديد والعديد من القصص المحزنة، لكنه يحتوي أيضاً على معلومات هامة جدا، وأيضا على مقابلة أجرتها الكاتبة مع رمضان قديروف.

أنصح بقراءته.

[Janosch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Torn between giving it a low rating or high one. Reason for that is that the writing style as well as the biased view of the author makes it kind of difficult to read. I love Chechnya so one could say I am biased too. However, it is also hard to decipher what type of message the author tried to sent, if any. It certainly is not a war report. One of the other reviewers here had put it into right words: "A mix of diary, journalism, fiction and eye witness retelling, all in one." This is why it sometimes is a terrible flow of reading. I will still recommend it since 90% of the world's popuolation doesnt even know that there is a country called Chechnya. So you better read it. :)

[Gosia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a drastic account of the Chechen Wars told through the stories of both victims and perpetrators, but not only – the author also explains the political scene, cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as contemporary history of Chechnya dating back to Stalinism. I only wish she was more present in those stories. Seierstad rarely confronts her interlocutors (or so it feels in the book), even when their views go against core humanist values that the Western world is taking for granted. But then again, provoking a guy who just confessed to killing her own sister over a gossip may not be the wisest strategy for a war reporter.

[Brett C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book focusing on the horrors, war crimes, and violence in Chechnya and it affects on children. Some pretty bad stories and sad tales of children and orphans in this forgotten period of war in the Russian-Chechen conflict. The saddest part is you'll never hear about this in Western media.

[E.P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Asne Seierstad was a freelance journalist in Moscow when the first Chechen war broke out. Acting under a poorly-understood compulsion to find out what was really going on there, she sweet-talked her way onto a military transport plane and ended up in Grozny. She spent several months during the first war, and again during the second war, slipping around Chechnya, often disguised as a Chechen woman in order to avoid attention and get into places foreigners were forbidden to enter, so she could interview people touched by the conflict. Hosted by Hadijat, a woman running an unofficial orphanage in Grozny, she focuses heavily on the stories of women and children, but also speaks with others, including a couple of encounters with Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya's infamous president. The result is a fascinating book in which interviews and Seierstad's personal experiences are woven into a more or less coherent narrative.

Seierstad's own story is riveting: she makes no claims to heroism, but she is obviously a tough and determined reporter, who doesn't hesitate to visit taboo families, such as the relatives of resistance fighters and even participants in the Dubrovka siege, or to ask Kadyrov probing questions, which he sidesteps with stunning barrages of word salad. The picture she paints of Chechnya's current leader is grim: while she is slightly more sympathetic than, say, Politkovskaya, mentioning how he sits there doodling flowers with faces and looking sheepish when she asks tough questions, the ultimate impression is of someone utterly unsuited to uphold the dignity of office he represents, and who can't even sit still and speak in complete, coherent sentences, let alone tell the truth. The allegations of misconduct against Kadyrov are graver than those aimed at the US's own Donald Trump, but in character, they seem worrisomely similar. But enough about that.

A fluent Russian speaker and originally well-disposed towards Russia and Russians, Seierstad finds herself becoming increasingly appalled by the excesses inflicted by her adopted country on this tiny nation. At the same time, Chechnya and the Chechens are hardly angels themselves: Seierstad recounts horrifying stories of abuse, in which husbands attack their wives, men rape their children, brothers kill their sisters, and Chechens commit dreadful crimes against other Chechens. Giving Chechens more control, in the form of the Kadyrovtsy, has had nasty side effects: under the guise of returning to their Chechen roots, the government has instigated widespread oppression of women, and people suspected of Wahhabism are grabbed off the street, tortured, and sometimes disappeared. All it takes is for a man to wear his hair slightly too long at the back for him to be whisked away, perhaps never to return; women have it even harder in some ways, since they are now forced to wear headscarves and dress modestly, but dressing TOO modestly and covering up TOO much of their hair can be taken as a sign of Wahhabism. The book came out ten years ago, but if anything it seems that the situation in Chechnya has only gotten more dire, something the book foreshadows: it ends, not with a happy story of rehabilitated orphans, but on a warning note: Hadijat's orphanage is in danger of being shut down, and some of her children are totally out of control, enraging and endangering the others as they act out as a result of the trauma they have suffered.

One thing all of the disparate writers I've read on this and other wars agree about is that war reveals whatever a person's true character is, showing both their strengths and their weaknesses. Reading this book, I was struck by how true this seems not just for individuals, but for nations. Seierstad's book uncovers some of the pathologies at the heart of both Russia and Chechnya (are they one nation or two? Both, it seems). Caught up in a sick, co-dependent relationship, both nations have retreated into nationalism and attempts to preserve their heritage in the face of external attack. Unfortunately, the parts of their heritage they are trying to preserve are often the very things they should be most eager to throw away. Seierstad chronicles the rising xenophobia of Russian young men, who horrify their grandparents, survivors of WWII, by tattooing swastikas on their bodies, and records how young Chechen men retreat from their problems by attacking women--sometimes verbally, sometimes physically--and torturing dogs. Sometimes nations respond to a terrible self-inflicted trauma by learning from it as they attempt to rise from the ashes: think Germany after WWII, or Rwanda after the massacres of the 1990s. The Chechen wars could have had the same effect on Russia and Chechnya, but they have not. Perhaps they were not traumatic enough (easy to believe for Russia; harder for Chechnya), or perhaps both nations have enough grievances against the other to avoid looking their own flaws square in the face, preferring instead to point fingers and lay blame everywhere but where it lies. What will happen in the future is anyone's guess, but "The Angel of Grozny" does not give much hope for improvement any time soon, and neither do events since the book was published.

"The Angel of Grozny" is not a light read, but it is informative and compelling. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Chechnya, the Chechen wars, or post-Soviet Russia, or if you're just looking for a book by and about women affected by war.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The result of the author's repeated visits to war-torn Chechnya over more than a decade, this book examines both the politics behind the conflict and the horrendous effects the years of violence have on civilians, especially children, on the ground. Veering back and forth between memoir and investigative journalism, the book could have been better structured. I also have to admit that I was vastly more interested in pretty much everything other than the titular "Angel", the children's home she runs and its semi-feral inhabitants. (No matter how fucked up a childhood some kid had, if they're running around killing dogs etc. to pass the time they get zero sympathy from me.)

[Liv Myhre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastisk bra bok som jeg fikk låne av Katrine. Åsne er en tøff og modig journalist og en usedvanlig god formidler uansett kompliserte tema fra en virkelighet langt utenfor vår fatteevne. Denne boken tar utgangspunkt i Tjetjenia og ditto kriger. Første del av boken tenkte jeg, er d rart at barn som vokser opp i krig blir som de blir. Boken får meg også til nok en gang å tenke hvorfor er d så mye hat der ute. Men kanskje ikke rart når man tilhører en folkegruppe som ikke aksepteres noe sted. Hvorfor d - kan igjen spørres. Og så har boken med seg sterke beskrivelser av blansingen religion, herskesyke og mannssjåvinisme blandet med en god porsjon dobbeltmoral. Jeg blir sint og lei meg på samme tid. Boken gir absolutt leseren god mulighet for ettertanke.