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Dynamo Paperback – 22 July 2011

by Andy Dougan (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 70 ratings
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In 1942 at the centre point of World War II an extraordinary event took place not on the battlefield but in a municipal stadium in Kiev. This is the true story of courage, team loyalty and fortitude in the face of the most brutal oppression the world had ever seen.

When Hitler initiated Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, he caught the Soviet Union completely by surprise. At breathtaking speed his armies swept east, slaughtering the ill-prepared Soviet forces. His greatest military gains of the entire war were made in a few short months, and the largest single country that he conquered was the Ukraine, roughly the size of France. Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, was circled, assaulted and overrun, and among the city’s defenders who were captured and incarcerated were many of the members of the sparkling 1939 Dynamo Kiev football team, arguably the best in Europe before the war. Captured Kiev was a starving city whose population were deported in vast numbers as slave labour.

However one man determined to save not just the surviving players from the Dynamo side but other athletes. He offered them work, shelter and, most valuable, bread, as workers in his bakery. Inspired by the charismatic goalkeeper Trusevich, the Dynamo side was re-formed as Start FC and a series of fixtures was arranged, all of which the team win handsomely, to such an extent that they inspired Kievan spirits. The final fixture against the Luftwaffe was agreed by the German authorities: a well-fed team from the Fatherland would vanquish the upstart Ukrainians, especially if the game was refereed by an SS officer. The match is an allegory of resistance; its consequences are brutal. Andy Dougan has discovered the truth behind a legendary encounter, sorting fact from fiction and restoring to the centre of World War II a moment of extraordinary poignancy and complex bravery, of which the cliché is demonstrably true: football is not a matter of life or death; it’s much more important than that.

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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Fourth Estate
  4. Publication date
    22 July 2011
  5. Dimensions
    14 x 1.7 x 19.7 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1841153192
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1841153193
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From the Publisher

bestselling europe books;bestselling non fiction books;books on europe;top non fiction books

bestselling europe books;bestselling non fiction books;books on europe;top non fiction books

bestselling europe books;bestselling non fiction books;books on europe;top non fiction books

bestselling europe books;bestselling non fiction books;books on europe;top non fiction books

Product description

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

About the Author

Andy Dougan is a writer for the Evening Herald and the author of six previous biographies, of Martin Scorcese and Robert De Niro among others.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fourth Estate (22 July 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1841153192
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1841153193
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 14 x 1.7 x 19.7 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 70 ratings

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4.6 out of 5 stars
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Customers find the book to be a brilliant and enjoyable read, with one review highlighting its portrayal of human resilience in extreme circumstances. The story receives positive feedback, with customers describing it as a tragic narrative.

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11 customers mention ‘Readability’11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as brilliant and a hugely enjoyable read, with one customer highlighting its portrayal of human resilience in extreme circumstances.

"...It's an amazing book of survival for some, deAth for many and great courage...." Read more

"...A story about human cruelty, human endeavour and human resilience in the extreme. Highly recommended." Read more

"...The book is excellent, as it puts the dilemmas of the war into the trivial world of football; how football was seen both as a means to motivate..." Read more

"This is a great read, takes you through the tangled web of football in occupied Ukraine during the second World War...." Read more

5 customers mention ‘Story quality’5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the story of the book, describing it as tragic, with one customer noting it is extremely sad in parts.

"...It's an amazing book of survival for some, deAth for many and great courage...." Read more

"...A story about human cruelty, human endeavour and human resilience in the extreme. Highly recommended." Read more

"First class story and hugely enjoyable read." Read more

"A fascinating and tragic story, good quality and arrived when promised." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • annnei
    5.0 out of 5 stars A truly amazing book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Wow what an account of this great football side during the Nazi occupation. The book is riveting, extremely sad in parts as well as informative. I have read this genre many times but this book portrayed the horrors and atrocities and extreme brutality that happened during that period in a way so vividly that I have not read before. It's an amazing book of survival for some, deAth for many and great courage. The book revolves around the football team which in my view, as a lover of football makes it extremely interesting. The history of what happened to this team is fascinating. I recommend this book to anyone interested in this genre.
    One person found this helpful
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  • A. J. Jackson
    5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliantly written book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 March 2021
    Verified Purchase
    This book is brilliant; tragic and hard hitting, but brilliant. I read a lot and rarely am I stirred emotionally, but at one point was on the verge tears. A story about human cruelty, human endeavour and human resilience in the extreme. Highly recommended.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Erik Cleves Kristensen
    4.0 out of 5 stars Fine football book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 September 2007
    Verified Purchase
    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 a friendly football match they were supposed to lose, and died for it. Much of the myth around the legendary side Dynamo Kiev is built up on this. Andy Dougan largely follows the story; he tries to demystify the myth of the heroic players who defied all odds for their love of the game; most were men trying to survive a war, and had been working at a bakery managed by a sports-crazed Ukranian, who decided to make a football team from all the former stars to play in a football tournament set up by the German occupiers.
    The team outperformed all, even humiliating a German side. But that is where the story somehow questions whether the team actually was torn apart because of that victory: many of the players continued in Kiev, some survived the war, and some were sent to Siretz, a prisoner camp known for its barbarism on the outskirts of Kiev. Three of the great players of Dynamo Kiev were executed at Siretz, a part so well described in the book that one feels the grueling suffering the prisoners went through. The ones shot were Ivan Kuzmenko, Alexei Klimenko and the great Nikolai Trusevich, who had been one of the best goalkeepers in the world at the time. And here, Mr. Dougan adds to the legend telling how Trusevich last words were "red sport will never die" and wearing his goalkeeper jersey!
    The book is excellent, as it puts the dilemmas of the war into the trivial world of football; how football was seen both as a means to motivate people, and as an outlet for political protest in an environment where life was worthless (this book is interesting to read in conjunction with Simon Kuper's "Ajax, the War and the Dutch", also about the world of football during WWII).
    If one is interested in sports, football and history, this is well-worth a read!
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Excellent
    5.0 out of 5 stars Books
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 September 2023
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    Excellent
    One person found this helpful
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  • Mr. R. G. Brown
    5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect If You Like Football and War History
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 February 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This is a great read, takes you through the tangled web of football in occupied Ukraine during the second World War. I was hooked, it is the quickest I have ever read a book.

    It also made me want to visit Kiev!
    One person found this helpful
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  • P. Davidson
    5.0 out of 5 stars A fine book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 December 2018
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    First class story and hugely enjoyable read.
    One person found this helpful
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  • mr james wilkinson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great vendor
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 March 2021
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    Speedy delivery and delighted with book
    One person found this helpful
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  • phil salway
    5.0 out of 5 stars good quality and arrived when promised
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 January 2018
    Verified Purchase
    A fascinating and tragic story, good quality and arrived when promised.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Luca Celati
    5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping, a must-read book for football & history enthusiasts
    Reviewed in Italy on 19 October 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Fascinating story knitting together sports and history. The drama of nazi-occupied Kiev, the FC Start team being set up at Bakery Nr 3 with former pro players of Dynamo & Lokomotiv, the team becoming the symbol of local resistance. It beat twice a German team named FlakElf which was supposed to epitomise German and Aryan superiority over the Ukranian Untermenschen. Then, the tragedy of Start players being deported to a labour camp under atrocious conditions, four of them being shot.
    Thoroughly researched and well written. Not to be missed.
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  • jim stevenson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on 8 April 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Item as described! Fast shipping!
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  • Mark T. Olesnicky
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on 26 March 2015
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    classic
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  • Anthony Calabrese
    4.0 out of 5 stars Victory
    Reviewed in the United States on 17 November 2003
    Verified Purchase
    The events detailed in this book have become the stuff of soccer legend. The infamous Kiev "Death Match" against the Nazis has been told and retold, but it is more myth than reality. Eduardo Galeano in "Soccer in Sun and Shadow" wrote that Dynamo "committed the insane act of defeating Hitler's squad in the local stadium" with the result that "all eleven were shot with their shirts at the edge of a cliff."
    The story also became the inspiration for the cult classic movie "Victory" in which a team of allied prisoners of war play against the German National team in occupied Paris.
    Yet the real story behind the myth, while in some ways not as dramatic, is just as compelling. Dynamo was the team of the Kiev branch of the NKVD. Yet most of the players were not secret policemen or even committed Stalinists. Rather, they were a group of extremely talented men who wanted to play soccer. All that changed with the coming of the German army in 1941.
    But the Germans wanted to show that all was normal in occupied Ukraine, and normalcy required soccer. Finding themselves employed in a bakery, Dynamo was reborn as FC Start and played in a makeshift league against teams of Ukrainian nationalists collaborating with Hitler, Romanian and Hungarian occupation troops, and German army and air force teams.
    Andy Dougan makes the era come alive, and shows the fears that drove the players. In the end, Dougan demolishes most of the myths of the "Death Match," though, unfortunately, not all. While the book was clearly written for a soccer audience, anyone interested in World War Two would be fascinated by Dougan's treatment of life in occupied Ukraine.
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  • otbrenner
    4.0 out of 5 stars cool book
    Reviewed in the United States on 18 January 2013
    Verified Purchase
    not the best read ever(kinda long and drags out at the end), but very unique and powerful story. certainly worth the read and the buy.
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