Володимир Шабля > Володимир's Quotes

“1920… Chaos.
A chaos brewed from fear, lawlessness, constant changes of power, civil war, and disease.
The Red Commissars with their grain requisitions.
The White Guards with arrogant imperial plunder.
Makhno’s forces with anarchist expropriations and the division of everything and everyone.
The gangs of Hryhoriev, Marusia, and countless others…
Each with its own rules.
Yet all of them take and kill, rape and rob.
In Tomakivka, only one institution functioned reliably – the hospital.
It was needed by every warring authority, every general and ataman:
the wounded had to be treated, the sick healed,
and the able-bodied fed and given shelter.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book One


Context note: Set in Ukraine during the Civil War (1917–1921), at the time of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, when multiple armed forces – Red, White, anarchist, and local warlord groups — fought for control, leaving civilians trapped in a landscape of violence, lawlessness, and disease.”
― Володимир Шабля

“That’s how we’ve ended up,” Ivan said with a bitter smile. “We work, as in the proverb: Enough trading, father — there’s no change left to give.
‘Why did they suddenly increase the grain procurement plan?’ Vasyl protested.
‘Everything seems the same — but it isn’t,’ Danylo explained. ‘The status of our land has changed, and so has the status of the collective farmers. What grew last year is now taxed differently. Even the poor peasants who joined the collective are no longer considered poor — and the taxes rise accordingly.’
‘Clever,’ Ivan muttered angrily. ‘They’ve laid out their accounting traps well.’
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Two


Context note: In Soviet collective farms, taxes and grain quotas were often increased not because of real agricultural growth, but due to bureaucratic reclassification. Accounting became a tool of pressure that made normal farming impossible.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга друга. Непрості дороги до пекла: Виживання в умовах насильства.

“On that winter afternoon, the two boys hurried outside right after lunch, pulling enormous sleds that seemed almost larger than themselves.
As they climbed the hill, they kept dodging sleds rushing past, packed with people of all ages. Most were children and teenagers, but there were also young adults and even respectable grown villagers.
Sometimes grandparents came too, ‘to remember the old days.’ They rode together with their children or grandchildren, letting the younger ones steer. And after reaching the bottom – or tumbling halfway down – the ‘veterans’ laughed, shouted, and squealed with joy no less than the children.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Two


Context note: A happy moment of childhood joy and community life in a rural Ukrainian village – a reminder that even under repression, warmth and memory endured.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камень. Биографический роман. Книга вторая. Непростые дороги в ад: Выживание в условиях насилия

“Peter had only just graduated with honors from the Zaporizhzhia Pedagogical Institute and was supposed to leave for his first teaching job the very next day. Instead, he was arrested.
For what sins was a student obsessed with honesty punished — a young man who had risen from the very bottom of society and sincerely believed in the socialist ideal? His parents did not know. Peter himself did not know either. He believed what had happened was a terrible mistake and hoped it would soon be corrected.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Two


Context note: In the Stalinist USSR, arrests often struck young, loyal, and idealistic citizens. Many believed their detention was a bureaucratic error — until the machinery of repression proved otherwise.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга друга. Непрості дороги до пекла: Виживання в умовах насильства.

“The most effective move would be to send the tanks with infantry west of Bolshaya Belozerka” Commander Smirnov proposed. “Enemy units there are nearly destroyed — we could threaten a real encirclement.”
“That won’t be possible,” the chief of staff objected. “A combat order has just arrived from фронт headquarters: the 15th Tank Brigade, the 530th Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment, and the 30th Cavalry Division are are redeployed to support the 12th Army near Pavlograd, where the situation is critical.”
Smirnov turned pale, then his eyes filled with blood. “Damn it!” he slammed his fist on the table. “We needed just two more days. Without tanks now, we’re helpless.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Two


Context note: In 1941, rigid bureaucracy and centralized command in the Red Army often prevented commanders from exploiting battlefield opportunities. Delays, reassignments, and fear of independent decisions frequently led to disastrous outcomes.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камень. Биографический роман. Книга вторая. Непростые дороги в ад: Выживание в условиях насилия

“Можеш образити мене словами, як Федю, але цим ти лише ще раз засвідчиш свою слабкість.
You may insult me with words, but by doing so you only prove your own weakness.”
― Volodymyr Shablia

“When his fingers touched the bread during the inspection of his duffel bag, and he inhaled its warm rye scent, Peeter could no longer restrain himself. He broke off a small piece, placed it in his mouth, and chewed for a long time, trying – if only briefly – to deceive the constant hunger. For a moment, it worked: he swallowed the paste-like pap, felt a rush of euphoria, and quietly fell asleep.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Two


Context note: During prisoner transports to the Gulag, hunger was constant. Even a single bite of bread could bring brief relief – and an almost euphoric sense of escape from terrible reality.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камень. Биографический роман. Книга вторая. Непростые дороги в ад: Выживание в условиях насилия

“I fear that even my authority as an army commander won’t help. The fear of the High Command is too great.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камень. Биографический роман. Книга вторая. Непростые дороги в ад: Выживание в условиях насилия

“– Independent farmers are arrested and deported somewhere to the Urals or Siberia. I fear we may be the next to be labeled ‘kulaks’.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Two


Context note: During the forced collectivization in the USSR, millions of peasants were forcibly deported to remote regions such as Siberia and the Urals as part of state repression against on wealthy peasants (nicknamed "kulaks" by the Soviet authorities).”
― Володимир Шабля, Камень. Биографический роман. Книга вторая. Непростые дороги в ад: Выживание в условиях насилия

“Red Army soldier Danylo could only sleep while moving – in transport – and even that could hardly be called sleep at all.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камень. Биографический роман. Книга вторая. Непростые дороги в ад: Выживание в условиях насилия

“As soon as Peter took off his coat and saw what his grandmother had cooked, he ran straight to the table and climbed into ‘his’ place – a large, sturdy wooden armchair with a small stool set on top of it.
He bit eagerly into the pasty, taking large mouthfuls and greedily washing them down with milk. At one moment, the boy moved a little too abruptly, and a thin stream of warm milk escaped from the corner of his mouth, slid between cheek and chin, slipped under his collar, and disappeared on his chest, gently warming his skin. Peter wiped the spilled milk with his sleeve, took another pasty – then another, and another…
Years later, this moment – so full of bright childhood sensations – would return to him night after night, haunting the hungry Peter, tormenting both soul and body in his sleep. Repeated endlessly, the dream would turn into suffering – a symbol of doom and unrealized hopes. And even within this seemingly kind dream, a Damoclean sword would hang over his mind: the impossibility, the futility of ever turning it into reality.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Two


Context note: A memory of warmth, abundance, and family love that later becomes a recurring dream for a starving prisoner. The contrast reveals how childhood comfort turns into psychological torment under hunger and repression.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга друга. Непрості дороги до пекла: Виживання в умовах насильства.

“– All strong independent farmers are driven into unbearable conditions. Sooner or later, following the Party’s orders, they will come and eliminate us as a class — within an hour.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга друга. Непрості дороги до пекла: Виживання в умовах насильства.

“– But keeping such large troop formations idle here, while the enemy can outflank us from the right, is extremely dangerous!”

Context note: Rigid command structures in the Red Army and a fear of initiative often led to catastrophic delays and encirclements in the early years of the war. In this case, the military leader is frustrated by the impossibility of implementing an obvious solution.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга друга. Непрості дороги до пекла: Виживання в умовах насильства.