Books about Ukraine
Five books to help us understand
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These days the world is watching the war in Ukraine. To learn more about the country and the people who are now fighting for their homeland, we recommend these books.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the war in the Ukraine, causing consternation around the world. The event awakens the desire in many people to learn more about the European country, its history, the people and, last but not least, the difficult relationship with Russia. Non-fiction books, but also novels by Ukrainian authors help to get to know the country’s eventful past better. We recommend these five works.
Karl Schlögel: Decision in Kyiv
History professor Karl Schlögel has repeatedly warned of Russian aggression since the beginning of the war in eastern Ukraine. In his book “Decision in Kiev” he portrays Ukrainian cities and landscapes such as Lemberg, Odessa, Kiev or the Crimea and tells the stories of the places and people. The book brings the reader closer to the identity of the country and, when it was published in 2015, made it clear what was at stake for the whole of Europe with the war in Ukraine.
Karl Schlögel: Decision in Kyiv. Fischer paperback 2017
Andreas Kappeler: Small history of the Ukraine
Clear and comprehensive introduction: The “Brief History of Ukraine” provides information about the most important events and contexts of Ukrainian history from the Middle Ages to the present. Andreas Kappler, Emeritus Professor of East European History, also takes into account the history of Poles, Russians, Jews and Germans living in Ukraine.
Andreas Kappeler: Small history of the Ukraine. CH Beck 2019
Serhij Zhadan: Internat
In this novel, the Ukrainian writer Serhiy Zhadan vividly describes the horrors of the war in Donbass. The protagonist Sascha wants to pick up his nephew from the boarding school across town because the school has come under fire. On the three-day journey home, the two find themselves in the middle of a combat zone between separatists, Ukrainian soldiers and paramilitary groups and experience what the war is doing to their homeland and the people. The German translation of the book was awarded the Leipzig Book Fair prize.
Serhij Zhadan: Internat. Suhrkamp 2018
Andrei Kurkov: Gray bees
In “Grey Bees”, the Russian-Ukrainian author Andrei Kurkov vividly tells of the life-threatening everyday life of the civilian population in eastern Ukraine: The beekeeper Sergey lives in the Donbass, where pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian fighters shoot at each other every day, but he ignores the war. He is particularly concerned about the well-being of his bees, which he wants to bring to a place where they can gather nectar in peace in the spring. On his journey, the peaceful beehive becomes the counterpart of the political chaos in Ukraine.
Andrei Kurkov: Gray bees. Diogenes 2019
Katja Petrovskaya: Maybe Esther
In “Maybe Esther” the Ukrainian-German author Katja Petrowskaja researches her family history and creates a panorama of world history in the 20th century. In the footsteps of her ancestors, Petrowskaja travels to Kiev, Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow and reports on her great-uncle, who assassinated the German ambassador in Moscow, her great-grandfather, who founded an orphanage for deaf Jewish children in Warsaw, or her grandmother father who was shot by German soldiers in Kiev. The book was awarded the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, among others.
Katja Petrovskaya: Maybe Esther. Suhrkamp 2014