Contents
When the Ukraine war broke out, the young German journalist Artur Weigandt began to explore his Soviet roots – and became a traitor to the “Russian world”.
“Betrayal in itself is not a bad thing, it depends on what you betray,” says the almost 30-year-old Berliner Artur Weigandt, author of the autobiographical book “The Traitors”. It is the literary debut of the journalist with family roots in the Soviet Union.
The book says it is important to show an “attitude” “against Putin, against the Soviet Union,” especially in the “post-Soviet world of the diaspora,” to which the author himself belongs. There he turns himself into a traitor to the “Russian world” among those who understand Putin and those who are nostalgic for the Soviet Union.
Soviet roots
Artur Weigandt was born in 1994, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. Weigandt’s father is the descendant of German immigrants whom Stalin deported by the hundreds of thousands to remote Kazakhstan during World War II. Because of alleged collaboration with the Nazis.
Weigandt’s ancestors live as exiles in Uspenka, a town in the vastness of the Kazakh steppe. Along with other displaced persons – from Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia.
After Artur Weigandt was born, his family emigrated to Germany. There the boy goes to school, studies, becomes a journalist. Feels like a German. At least in part.
Legend:
The author Artur Weigandt was born in Uspenka, Kazakhstan, and grew up in Berlin.
Suzanne Schleyer
At home, the family cherishes the memory of their eastern roots: they speak Russian, move around in the post-Soviet diaspora, visit relatives who stayed behind in Uspenka during the holidays. Artur Weigandt sees the village as part of his homeland.
shock from the war
Then comes February 24, 2022: “With the Ukraine war, my world collapsed,” says the author. How can it be that the Russian world, to which he feels a part, is launching this terrible war?
“The Traitors” is the log of the search for an answer. With precise, often literary language, Artur Weigandt tells how, for example, he made contact with a cousin living in Russia. He absolutely doesn’t want to believe that people in Germany neither freeze nor starve. Putin’s propaganda works.
Exploring your own biography
Weigandt delves into the history of his family and describes how the ancestors became victims of Stalin’s crimes. As a cover-up, the propaganda of the time claimed that in Uspenka – and in the countless other places of exile – a wide variety of nations would grow into happy people with a uniform Soviet identity.
Artur Weigandt recognizes how much he has always glorified Uspenka. That the village is in fact a symbol of the criminal nature of Soviet rule: “Misery, betrayal of one’s own identity and forced loyalty to the system.”
According to Weigandt, Putin’s cruelty against Ukraine is the continuation of Stalin’s terror against national minorities. Among the victims were their own ancestors. Uspenka, according to the book, is the “longing and a memory of a homeland” that basically never existed.
“The Traitors” is an impressive text. Because he’s so fearless. And so clear. And because it recently reads as an appeal for a different Russia that can do without propaganda lies. Exposing them is what this book is all about.
It’s a betrayal that seeks to heal.
podcast
Literature Club: Two with a book
To subscribe to this podcast, you need a podcast-compatible software or app. If your app isn’t in the list above, you can simply copy and paste the feed URL into your podcast app or software.
More audios and podcasts