Dynamo
Overview: 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 in all of World War II were made in these few short months, and the largest single country that he conquered was the Ukraine. Ukraine;s capital, Kiev, was circled, assaulted, and overrun. 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 squad in Europe before the war. Captured Kiev was a starving city whose populations were deported in vast numbers as slave labor. However, one man was determined not just to save the surviving players form the Dynamo squad but other athletes as well. 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 matches were arranged, all of which the team won handsomely, and to such an extent that they inspired Kievan spirits. The final match, however, against the Luftwaffe, was arranged by the German authorities. A well-fed team from the Fatherland would vanquish the upstart Ukrainians, especially since the game would be refereed by an S.S. officer. The match itself was an allegory of resistance, and its consequences were brutal.
In Dynamo, Andy Dougan has discovered the truth behind a legendary encounter, sorting fact from fiction and restoring a moment of extraordinary poignancy and complex bravery to the center of World War II. the cliche is demonstrably true: football is not a matter of life or death; it’s much more important than that.
Pages: 243 Pages
Writer:Andy Dougan
About the Writer: Andy Dougan is a writer for the Glasgow Evening Times and the author of six previous books, including biographies of American film luminaries Martin Scorcese, Robert De Niero, and Robin Williams. He lives in Scotland.
Recommendations:
This book has several things going for it. It has some great information on World War II, told from a different perspective, and covers some events that have been left out of other books. The second things going for it is that it covers a sport that is loved by the world. Sure, we as American’s have yet to figure out the beauty of the game of soccer, but it slowly is creeping into our country. This book gives a great feel for how soccer can inspire athletes, a nation, and a world. Dougan does a great job addressing the facts in his story. He makes you care about the people in the story and feel sadness when things go bad for them. The quote on the back of the cover of the book “football is not a matter of life or death; it is much more important than that” rings true throughout this book. If you can appreciate soccer and its impact on World War II, you will like this book. If you like to read about history that does not make the major history books, you will like this book. I very much wanted to go to Kiev and see the sites described in this book, even though most of the landmarks were destroyed in World War II. Check this book out, it is a good read and well written.