Book: Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
Author: Timothy Snyder
Review by: Nancy Hollister, retired, formerly vice president of manufacturing for National Linen Service; current member of the International Club of Atlanta, ACIR and World Affairs Council of Atlanta.
This year, while reading Timothy Snyder’s national bestseller The Road to Unfreedom, the title of Bloodlands caught my eye.
As a child, I visited a girlfriend’s home and I noticed a coffee table book on the Holocaust. I did not know the word, so I opened the book to find horrifying pictures that have not left my mind to this day.
Consequently, in adulthood, I have read many books and watched many movies/documentaries on World War II in an effort to understand man’s inhumanity to man. I have attended lectures by Holocaust survivors at the Bremen Museum, and as I have traveled the world, I have visited several museums dedicated to this subject. I still do not understand, but my quest continues.
First published in 2010, Mr. Snyder’s book was met with many accolades, including being named book of the year in many prominent publications and receiving many literary awards. At the same time, it has weathered some criticism.
While I am clearly no history or literary expert, I think it was one of the most significant books on the subject that I have read. Why? Detail, detail, detail. The depth and breadth of the research is astounding, with each incident spelled out with a level of specificity that can make it both gruesome and overwhelming. Yet, this makes the impact of the depravity more shockingly real and historically faithful.
The book is also laser focused on a particular region of the European conflict, while spanning a broader timeframe encompassing the pre- and post-war years. The bloodlands refers to a region that primarily includes Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuanian, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. Snyder shines a light on areas that can fade from view when we focus on the war effort in Western Europe or the source of the problem in Germany.
Snyder also deftly ties together the histories of Stalin and Hitler, oulining how they cooperated in the years leading up to the outbreak of war, via the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact in 1939 and their goal of destroying the Polish state.
This obviously ended when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. But the two men aided and abetted each other’s objectives: Hitler’s racial supremacy and Stalin’s spread of Communism.
For those of you with an interest in this time period of European history, I highly recommend Bloodlands for its expansive view of the region where 14 million lives were lost as a result of two men’s destructive policies.
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Each year, Global Atlanta asks influential readers and community leaders to review the most impactful book they read during the course of the year. This endeavor has continued annually since 2010.
See last year’s full list of books on BookShop here, and all 2020 reader picks here.
All books were chosen and reviews written independently, with only mild editing from our staff.