Around 40 years after the Second World War, journalist-writer, Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich interviewed hundreds of women who served the Soviet Union on the front among others as nurses, surgeons, foot soldiers, snipers, and underground fighters in occupied territories.
In her book The Unwomanly Face of War, compiled from the interviews, Alexievich shows the reader the incomprehensible terrors of war. It is impossible to transfer the truly lived experiences of these women into another text; the interviews must be read as the author has recorded them.
The personal stories convey in a shockingly vivid manner the horrors of battles, the hunger, coldness, misery and vermin on the front, the pain of the amputees, the silence of the dying, the atrocities of Gestapo interrogations, the sufferings of the people in the occupied villages, as well as some crimes committed by one's own side.
One gets an idea of the scale of the losses in the WWII when one understands that solely in the battles of Stalingrad, the number of casualties - including civilians - could be as high as nearly 2 million people. But it is the personal, sensed, exact details in Alexievich's interviews, together with deep emotions (or emotions frozen by war) that really reveal the true cruelty of war that goes to the bones and marrow.
It is impossible to know what war is if you have not been in war yourself. Trying to understand the reality of war is still necessary, especially for those who make decisions about war and peace for us others.
The Unwomanly Face of War is almost overwhelmingly sad to read. That is of course also the reason why it should be read. In addition, Alexievich manages to be present in the book despite the major role of the interviews. Her narrator's voice is a soft, tender touch on your skin.
Svetlana Alexievich: The Unwomanly Face of War (1985, new edition 2018)
Photo Wikimedia Commons
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