War Time Quotes

“All through the crowd were men in uniform, sailors from the great fleet anchored in the Hudson, soldiers with divisional insignia from Massachusetts to California, wanting fearfully to be noticed, and finding the great city thoroughly fed up with soldiers unless they were nicely massed into pretty formations and uncomfortable under the weight of a pack and rifle. Through this medley Dean and Gordon wandered; the former interested, made alert by the display of humanity at its frothiest and gaudiest; the latter reminded of how often he had been one of the crown, tired, casually fed, overworked, and dissipated. To Dean the struggle was significant, young, cheerful; to Gordon it was dismal, meaningless, endless.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, May Day

“Après tout, on ne juge le monde que d'après son propre coeur. L'avare seul voit les gens menés par l'intérêt, le luxurieux par l'obsession du désir. Pour Madame Angellier, un Allemand n'était pas un homme, c'était une personnification de la cruauté, de la perversité et de la haine. Que d'autres eussent un jugement différent était impossible, invraisemblable... Elle ne pouvait pas plus se répresenter Lucile amoureuse d'un Allemand qu'elle n'eût imaginé l'accouplement d'une femme et d'une bête fabuleuse, comme la licorne, le dragon ou la tarasque.”
― Irène Némirovsky, Suite Française

“Roughly halfway across the frozen river, the column of prisoners was halted by a massive snowdrift blocking their path. It proved too dense to break through in a single charge.
“Why are you standing there staring? Move! Help the men in front!” a guard barked.
The prisoners crowded forward and began clearing the obstacle together, clawing and kicking at the packed snow with desperate urgency.
In their haste, they failed to consider that the ice had not yet thickened sufficiently after the previous night’s freeze. Under the concentrated weight of so many bodies in one place, the thin crust of ice suddenly gave way. The entire vanguard plunged into the freezing water.
Those following behind recoiled in terror and collided with the prisoners at the rear. As they fell, the ice shattered beneath them as well, and they too were swallowed by the treacherous water. The more fortunate inmates, farther from the gaping hole in the ice, scattered in panic. Frightened guards fired warning shots into the air, shouting frantically to restore order.
An instant later, the icy slurry struck Peter’s body like a thousand knives. Screams, splashing water, cracking ice, and frantic bodies thrashing in the racing current merged into a single nightmare of chaos.
Several of the men who had fallen into the river could not swim. One was quickly seized by the current and dragged beneath the ice. Others, stricken by panic, clutched at whoever was near them. Peter found himself locked in the iron grip of a terrified Turkmen prisoner who had never in his life seen a body of water large enough to swim in. Together, they began to sink beneath the ice.
— Volodymyr Shablia, Stone. Book Three


Context note:
Set in 1941 during the chaotic early months of World War II, this scene depicts the forced transfer of prisoners within the Soviet Gulag system. As Nazi Germany invaded the USSR, thousands of inmates were marched or transported across vast distances under brutal conditions. Many perished not in battle, but during these desperate evacuations—victims of cold, exhaustion, panic, and the indifference of a repressive state.”
― Володимир Шабля, Камінь. Біографічний роман. Книга третя. Несправджені сподівання.: Все буде Голодомор.