- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Fourth Estate; illustrated edition edition (5 Mar 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1841153184
- ISBN-13: 978-1841153186
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
74,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in Books > History > Military History > World War II > Dunkirk
- #21 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Football > European > European Leagues
- #29 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Football > Leagues
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Nazi occupation of Kiev during World War II was a singularly brutal period in the history of the Ukraine. It is hard to imagine how the outcome of a football match could matter to a people who lived under constant threat of starvation, disease and death--but it did. In Dynamo--Defending the Honour of Kiev, journalist Andy Dougan tells the extraordinary story of how the players of Ukranian club side Dynamo Kiev--renamed FC Start--were saved from exportation to Nazi labour camps and became a beacon of hope for a city under the heel of the jackboot. Their finest hour was to be when a team of malnourished former Kiev stars took to the pitch against a Luftwaffe XI, and sought to deliver the propaganda coup of the war.
Dougan puts this extraordinary match in context, sketching the bloody history of the region, and reflecting on the roots of a fierce, nationalist spirit which was to express itself in the first half of the 20th century in the face of the totalitarian ideologies and genocidal instincts of both the Soviets and the Nazis. Dynamo became a popular focus of that spirit and its role as an embodiment of Ukrainian pride was never more significant than during the Nazi occupation, in face of astonishing brutality:
The Nazis had such institutionalised contempt for their prisoners that on some occasions they did not even consider them worth a bullet. Some sick prisoners who could not work were savagely beaten senseless and buried alive, in the knowledge that if they did regain consciousness they would not have the strength to free themselves from their shallow graves.
But this is no glamourised, Escape To Victory-style account of sporting pluck and stiff upper-lips. As in any chronicle of an occupation, the moral certainties of peacetime sit uneasily with the necessities of survival, and Dougan is an unflinching observer of the reality behind the legend. The result is a moving, challenging book, which will put the importance of your team's next match into perspective. --Alex Hankin
Review
‘Just as you think you've read every good book about the war another one is published…I cannot help but think that it would seem wrong to try and forget what happened during the last war until all stories such as this one have been told.’ Philip Kerr, Sunday Times
‘This is clearly a labour of love.’ Independent
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For the first 200 of the 250 pages this is a great book, giving a real human dimension to the harshness of life in both pre-war and occupied Kiev. Although I appreciate that research must have been difficult, it is still deeply frustrating that the story of FC Start's players builds up layer upon layer of detail, only to suddenly run out of steam and out of facts in the final very rushed 50 pages.
I've never finished a book with so many unanswered questions - about people and events initially described in fine detail, then set aside and dropped. How did half of the team manage to survive the death camp at Sirets? (According to Wikipedia there was a revolt at the end of its days in which 15 prisoners escaped, and the remaining 300 were executed). Was the kommandant ever caught? Did all those players and relatives who escaped the occupation survive the war? (for example Trusevich's wife and child, who are periodically mentioned throughout, or Konstantin Shchegotsky, who is the main character in the first 90 pages) Even writing that he doesn't know would be something, instead of making it feel like a chapter or two is simply missing.
So, for the most part an excellent read, but a shame that it doesn't feel finished...
I've never finished a book with so many unanswered questions - about people and events initially described in fine detail, then set aside and dropped. How did half of the team manage to survive the death camp at Sirets? (According to Wikipedia there was a revolt at the end of its days in which 15 prisoners escaped, and the remaining 300 were executed). Was the kommandant ever caught? Did all those players and relatives who escaped the occupation survive the war? (for example Trusevich's wife and child, who are periodically mentioned throughout, or Konstantin Shchegotsky, who is the main character in the first 90 pages) Even writing that he doesn't know would be something, instead of making it feel like a chapter or two is simply missing.
So, for the most part an excellent read, but a shame that it doesn't feel finished...
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is probably the best historical football book ever!!!
My wife is Ukrainian, and I am intrested to learn about her history and culture, and most History books on Ukraine I have seem to repeat the same stuff over and over agian, but this book I can get a short straight-forward history of Ukraine and about a football match!
It does read like a Hollywood script (Nazi's come in and a bunch a footballers beat them over and over again in a football match) but is really gripping and shows a great deal of the suffering of the people of Ukraine and Kyiv before and during the war!
My wife is Ukrainian, and I am intrested to learn about her history and culture, and most History books on Ukraine I have seem to repeat the same stuff over and over agian, but this book I can get a short straight-forward history of Ukraine and about a football match!
It does read like a Hollywood script (Nazi's come in and a bunch a footballers beat them over and over again in a football match) but is really gripping and shows a great deal of the suffering of the people of Ukraine and Kyiv before and during the war!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A little thin perhaps, but nonetheless an inspiring account of resistance in the most trying of cicumstances. The story of FC Start, mythologised by the leadership of the USSR, is told in full for the first time here, from the 1941 battle for Kiev, through a harrowing account of life in the city, to the liberation and the comeback of Dynamo Kiev after the war. In between, we are told how Start, a team composed mainly of ex-Dynamo players, played a heroic series of games against axis teams in Kiev, winning all of them.
Thought-provoking and inspiring, if a tiny bit thin.
Thought-provoking and inspiring, if a tiny bit thin.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
" A Very Moving Account"
I have read this account several times and never fail to be moved by it especially the account of the players treatment in Siretz. Read more
Published 11 months ago by A. Flynn
Defending the Honour of Kiev
An well researched and well written book. It's also a bit of an eye opener regarding life under Nazi occupation coupled with the brutal Soviet rule. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Cazshie
Football, Soviet history - a perfect combination
I really enjoyed this book. It's a great combination of Ukrainian and Football history. I've never read much about the Russia and the ex-Soviet bloc, but this not only part-filled... Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2008 by Tim Johnson
Football against the enemy
Dougan's clear, well-written account delves behind the myth to present the truth about FC Start's brief expression of defiance and solidarity under the yoke of Nazi... Read more
Published on 6 Dec 2007 by PrideParkforever
Fine football book
I think that many people have heard part of this tale, at least the more popular version: the Ukranian footballers who in Nazi-occupied Kiev defied the Wehrmacht in what was to be... Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2007 by Erik Cleves Kristensen
Fascinating tale let down by the telling
The story of FC Start is a fascinating one but it is let down badly by the poor quality of the writing. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2003
Recommendation: Read this book!
I just finished reading this incredible book called : Dynamo, Defending the honour of Kiev. It's the true story about FC Start, a football team created in Kiev during the second... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2003 by Konstantinos Konstantas
Eye-Opening effects of football
This is an uplifting story of the effct football can have on a war torn city. Despite starting a bit slow this book thrust you directly into Kiev at the time of the German... Read more
Published on 23 April 2002 by Jeremy D Haag
Terrifying...
I could never imagine that somebody would "dare" to raise that day once again... Nevertheless, "Dynamo" uncovers the unknown history of the Second World War and... Read more
Published on 21 Dec 2001 by Elena Bessonova
Compelling reading,a book that you will always remember.
Andy Dougan has written a truthful masterpiece.Every single page of this book puts you in the story and tears at your heart in much the same way that Schindler's List does. Read more
Published on 4 Sep 2001
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