Vasily Grossmann

For some time I've been reading Vasily Grossmann's book Elämä ja kohtalo (=Life and Fate). (I'm not proficient enough in Russian language. So I read it in Finnish...) The book is a panorama set to the time of the battle of Stalingrad during the WWII. The number of its characters is massive - the story ranges from German and Russian concentration camps to military units fighting in and near Stalingrad. There are Russian scientists and civilians behind the lines, some wounded German soldiers in a military hospital and ... Every Russian military unit had a real officer and a political officer. In many cases the political officer decided what the unit should do in fighting situation - though he was in no way militarily competent...

Grossmann was one of Stalin's best writer and propagandist. During the war he was very famous and popular. Grossmann was himself in Stalingrad while the fighting was at its hardest. So his writings were/are for real. He was no fake. But if Stalin had known what Grossmann wrote in his private diaries maybe his fame couldn't have saved him from Siberia or even worse...

In the massive battle of Stalingrad number of losses on both sides was gross. Germans and their allies lost almost 500 000 men - dead, wounded and lost. Russian casualties were more than 1 800 000 and all the innumerable civilians who lost their lifes... Stalin didn't let the civilians leave the city so that the military units would fight more bravely. Well, and the Germans didn't care very much how many Russian non-military people got killed...

Juha H.