In his unique take on the epic World War II battle of Stalingrad, Rutgers history professor Jochen Hellbeck wants his readers “for the first time to imagine Red Army soldiers…as thinking and feeling individuals,” rather than anonymous cogs in a vast “depersonalized machine.” To this end, virtually the entire text consists of interviews conducted by the Commission on the History of the Great Patriotic War during the battle with Soviet officers, foot soldiers, commissars, nurses and civilians, never recounted before in English. Taken as a whole, these accounts of one of history’s decisive military engagements gives the reader a panoramic feel for the time and place, but also for the far-reaching grasp of the Communist Party that “permeated all military levels” and “placed the army in an iron yoke.” Chillingly, these testimonials must be read in that context, and thus with a healthy dose of skepticism.
