Muehlberger

＂Ukraine as it once was＂ could be the motto over this book. This is the novel of a 2003 cruise on the mighty Dnieper River, and despite the memory of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 that runs through it as a leitmotif, it is enjoyable and instructive, for the country it describes, Ukraine, unfolds as an ancient cultural landscape, Greek colony, Roman place of exile for Christians, Cradle of the Rus, hinterland of the Black Sea pirates, bumbling field of the Cossacks, and as a tourist highlight the rocky massif of the Crimea, where the Goths already settled, the Tartar Khans built garden palaces, the tsars maintained their summer residence and Russian poets enriched their literature with immortal verses and texts.
Although Melanie, the author’s alter ego, originally explored the question of what role the memory of World War II played in the generation of the children of those soldiers who carried a terrible war to the East, this travelogue has an opimistic undertone, for Ukraine appears as a country on the move. However, in the meantime, world history has taken a new turn. Ukraine is once again in a defensive war, but this time the enemy is in the East and the West is fulfilling its European obligations.
The war changes the view of the country the book reports on. It shows the close intertwining of Russian and Ukrainian history and the tragedy that comes from this fratricidal war. The loss affects all of Europe.

Sybil Wagener is a Writer and Filmmaker living in Berlin, Germany. http//www.sybil-wagener.de