HURI Books

It may seem that the subject of WWII has already been thoroughly researched and examined through the lens of fiction, with thousands of books on the topic from Great Britain, the USA, continental Europe, Japan, the states of the former Soviet Union, and the USSR itself. And yet, Oleksii Nikitin’s novel 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 (translated by Catherine O’Neil and Dominique Hoffman, with an introduction by Taras Koznarsky) adds new depth and dimension to the topic. It presents WWII—with all its complex and painful aspects—from a Ukrainian perspective, confronting Soviet clichés and russia's attempts to weaponize the memory of the war.

The novel is based on the true story of Ilya Goldinov, a Ukrainian heavyweight boxing champion, a Jewish boy and Soviet patriot, partisan, and soldier who died in Kyiv in 1942. Oleksii Nikitin was able to reconstruct Goldinov’s story only after the Ukrainian authorities declassified the KGB archives in 2011; for the preceding 70 years, these documents had been kept under "Top Secret" classification. Using these documents, Nikitin traces Goldinov's story with clarity and leads the reader on an unexpected journey detailing life in Ukraine under Nazi occupation.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 spans almost nine years, from 1938 to 1946, capturing an incredible range of momentous events and human experiences: terrors and moments of happiness, loss and survival, grief and hope. Drawing on his own family history, urban memory, and archival research, Nikitin's powerful saga speaks to essential human choices, knowledge, and faith in humanity.

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