recommendations on a primary text for Soviet Union during WWII

[Michael Denner]

Yes. Kravchenko is pefect, at least on first glance. The fact that it had the same problems with verifiablity and authenticity as Speers (even an international trial) makes it all the more attractive. And, what's more, it's available in the Internet Digital Archive. 
 
Thank you!
mad
 
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Dr. Michael A. Denner
Editor, Tolstoy Studies Journal
Director, University Honors Program

Contact Information:
Russian Studies Program
Stetson University
Campus Box 8361
DeLand, FL 32720-3756
386.822.7381 (department)
386.822.7265 (direct line)
386.822.7380 (fax)
http://www.stetson.edu/~mdenner

________________________________

From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list on behalf of Anna Reid
Sent: Thu 2/1/2007 3:47 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] recommendations on a primary text for Soviet Union during WWII



Re primary texts on the Soviet Union in WW2, how about chapters 12-14 - titled 'The Unexpected War', 'Panic in Mosocw' and 'The Kremlin in Wartime' - of Victor Kravchenko's 'I Chose Freedom'? It's a first-hand account from an intelligent professional insider-outsider (rather like Speer), and was published in the US in 1946, after his defection - hence is both uncensored and very fresh, carries the flavour of the times.
  
  Anna Reid
  annareid01 at btinternet.com

Michael Denner <mdenner at STETSON.EDU> wrote:
  Dear Colleagues,



This might be better directed to H-NET-R, but I thought I'd try here
first, since responses there can get a little overwhelming.



For a class I'm teaching on comparative totalitarianisms (German and
Soviet), I'm trying to locate a primary text that is 1) an "insider"
view on the conduct of the war; 2) available in English; 3) not more
than fifty or so pages (I can excerpt).



My colleague (a Germanist), has chosen excerpts from Albert Speer's
"Inside the Third Reich." If you know the text, what's interesting about
it is that it displays a German government that is deeply divided and
even disorganized, instead of a unified, disciplined and "vertical"
Reich. (Let's leave aside debates on its accuracy.)



Anyone know of such a text for the Soviet Union during WWII? One that
discusses the "politics" of how the war was conducted, a first-hand
account? We're reading a number of secondary sources (Pipes, Stites,
Hobsbawm) to help the students contextualize the period. But I like to
provide a primary text that students can use as a reference point.



Thanks,

mad



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dr. Michael A. Denner
Editor, Tolstoy Studies Journal
Director, University Honors Program


Contact Information:
Russian Studies Program
Stetson University
Campus Box 8361
DeLand, FL 32720-3756
386.822.7381 (department)
386.822.7265 (direct line)
386.822.7380 (fax)

www.stetson.edu/~mdenner




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