Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II

In Nobel Prize winner Alexievich’s latest book to be translated into English we hear from the most unacknowledged of all war veterans—those who experienced it as children. The physical details of their memories are specific to the USSR between 1940-45, but it is the children’s (boys and girls, rural and urban, Jewish and gentile) position closer to the ground that allows them to perceive unmediated the fundamentals of all war—fear, loss and uncertainty. Even more poignant are their echoed tales about how war mangles common talismans of childhood—dolls, candy, the word “Mama.” The chapters fly by—each is just a few pages of conversation—because they are both horribly compelling and too intense to linger over. Our consolation is that these children grew up to tell their stories, and Alexievich composed them into this shattering testimonial to the idea that no child should ever suffer for the political follies of their elders.