mykola dementiuk

LAMBDA AWARD FINALIST HISTORICAL NOVEL

An astonishing novel about the fate of gays, gypsies, Jews, and other outsiders under the Nazi regime that is a metaphor for the inevitable fate of all outsiders under the rule of dictators, whether of the right or of the left.

Vienna Dolorosa takes place during a one-day time period - March 12,1938, the day Hitler invades Austria - in an Inner City hotel managed by a transvestite and doubling as a brothel for men who like boys dressed up as girls. old from the perspectives of various hotel personnel and guests, brothel employees and clientele, a talkative Viennese official, German police, Nazi SS, and a darling street boy Petya. Not for the faint of heart, Vienna Dolorosa includes

“A look into the bizarre side of things, never mentioned due to the major events occurring otherwise. "Vienna Dolorosa" is a novel about Hitler's invasion of Austria, as told from the perspective of a transvestite brothel in Vienna. An unusual story filled with unsavory characters and the grittier aspects of humanity, "Vienna Dolorosa" is a skillfully written and intriguing tale, sure to please historical fiction lovers looking to read something different.” -Midwest Book Review

“A very detailed and complicated examination of one side of the horrible underbelly of Nazi politics, Vienna Dolorosa is a violent, sexually skewed, horrific novel covering one significant date in European history: March 12, 1938, the date of the Nazi invasion of Austria. Like any recollection of the horrors of war and of Nazi atrocities, Vienna Dolorosa will churn stomachs and make eyes widen in sympathy and dismay. Perhaps more so though, this story relates the truly anti-Semitic, anti-homosexual, anti-transsexual and anti-transgendered slant of Nazi ideology. In a worldview in which a very small percentage of individuals are genetically acceptable, the vast majority was endangered, but for some groups and classes-Jews, Gypsies, Russians, and homosexuals/transgendereds/transsexuals-danger was even more prevalent, and never-ending. Vienna Dolorosa doesn't hesitate to explore the horrifying possibilities of a state policy glorifying hate crimes, and faint-hearted readers should beware: mutilation, murder, and other crimes are explicitly rendered. Credit is due to author Mykola Dementiuk for the richly detailed historical fabric, which renders the Vienna culture so realistic to the reader; for the juxtaposition of Nazi horrors against the backdrop of fabled Viennese culture; and for his careful and knowledgeable exposition of the mindset and lifestyle of a Transgendered, as seen through the story of Frau Friska, the "hotel" entrepreneur.” -Rainbow Reviews