Портрет тирана

by Anton Antonov-Ovseenko

The Time of Stalin, Portrait of Tyranny is an extraordinary book of historical revelation, a searing criminal indictment, told from the inside of Soviet history.

Genres: Russia, Nonfiction

480 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Manray9 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The late Anton Antonov-Ovseyenko was arrested in 1940 and spent thirteen years in prison and camps of the Gulag for the crime of being the son of an “enemy of the people.” He was a historian by education, but The Time of Stalin: Portrait of a Tyranny is not a conventional volume of history. Instead Antonov-Ovseyenko produced an extended prosecutorial indictment of the myriad crimes of Stalin and Stalinism. Based on archival research and conversations with the few surviving Old Bolsheviks, his fellow prisoners, and common citizens -- both victims and accomplices -- Antonov-Ovseyenko brought to life the perverse atmosphere of paranoia and criminality which pervaded the Soviet Union under Stalin's yoke.

Russian expert Stephen F. Cohen of Princeton wrote in his fine introduction of Antonov-Ovseyenko's book:

Its style and contents are not the product of academic dispassion but of personal experience, forbidden research, and anger that these crimes are still covered up... It is the voice of a survivor, a witness, a historian, telling his people, and all of us, that for such historical crimes, there is no statute of limitations.

Antonov-Ovseyenko earned a strong Four Stars from me for his unambiguous perspective on Stalin's rule. It makes for a fascinating, yet appalling, insight into a sordid chapter of modern history. For those with an interest in the period, The Time of Stalin: Portrait of a Tyranny would be an excellent companion to Simon Sebag-Montefiore's Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar.

[Corbin Routier · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Stalin's policies caused a Soviet holocaust, from his collectivization 'pogrom' against the peasantry in 1929-1933 through the relentless mass terror that continued until his death in March 1953... No one has yet managed to calculate the exact number of deaths. Among those who have tried, twenty million is a conservative estimate, excluding the twenty to thirty million who died during World War II."

"Power over the life and death of others has a certain attraction. The lowliest of specimens begins to feel omnipotent sitting in the interrogation chair... Every petty thief, sadist, or climber was free to go at it as hard as he like."

"Everyone knew that the NKVD was a gang of killers. Everyone kept quiet. Everyone assisted them in their work.

A Russian population census in 1937 showed "A deficit of 30.4 million people." Those who collected the data were killed and the results denied.

The author states he helped glorify Stalin. He believed in him as a leader. "The worship of leaders is akin to the herd instinct... What an ocean of suffering I had to go through before I saw clearly."

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Time of Stalin: Portrait of Tyranny by Anton Antonov-Ovseyenko
I am still reading but I find this very interesting and some what scary. When you think that the man you allow to lead you is so corrupt and just plan crazy. I like the way the author writes he seems to have healed quite a bit his writing shows his pain but as if he is absent for the moment. This man as a child lived in the concentrations camps. Very good read so far.