Anne Fox

Teacher in Melbourne

Andrii is one of the thousands of young men caught up in the cauldron of WWII in eastern Europe, but quite unique in the way he remains true to himself at all times.

A Ukrainian middle class ‘kulak’ he is one of a big family, strongly connected to their land, which produces enough for them to live on after selling the surplus. It is a poor but deeply satisfying life, when the family become caught in the turmoil started by the New Soviet System of collective farming.

And that is when his life changes.

The new system is hard and unfair but accepted overall. Andrii is separated from his family but from the very beginning he seems like a shining light in the generally dark and hopeless situation for the people.

Chaos is running high and although Andrii finds himself in indescribably bad situations he overcomes all obstacles with his strong will, gentle personality and unquenchable love for his country, Ukraine. It is his highly developed sense of survival which keeps him going.

The reader is spellbound by Andrii’s never-failing quick thinking and his constant luck; he escapes and is caught over and over, joins and falls behind only to escape again and again from Russians and Germans and even manages to recover from life threatening TB.

After a brief reunion with his family in between being tossed around by fate, he succeeds to keep alive with the help of taking on a new name and briefly even a new nationality to get to England as a prisoner of war in 1944.

After meeting Kathleen whom he re-names Katja and his two sons, they apply and are accepted as a family of immigrants to Australia in the 50’s.

A happy ending to a story as recollected by a humble and brave man. Recommended as a great read.

Valerie J. Griffiths

Author in Queensland

This book is the story of one persons life - a person born in the peaceful country area of the Ukraine in 1922 - a story that should be read by everyone.

The first chapter treats the reader to the peaceful and idyllic life style of the Ukrainian people when their country was at peace. As the story unfolds, we learn first-hand of the horrors of Joseph Stalin’s communist rule of the Ukraine commencing in 1929.

Andrii Antonenko’s life from the tender age of seven, was initially one of being a member of one of the Ukrainian families being forced off their land and transported to Russia as far as the Arctic Circle as prisoners.

From here, the life story for Andrii is one of escape and a continual moving on from one country to another. It was the story of a very young boy through to his early adulthood then on to maturity, all the time trying to maintain a relationship with his separated family members.

When World War II and the Germans became a reality for Andrii it changed again - he was forced to join the army.

His life’s journey continues post war, eventually arriving in Britain, then in time, a marriage resulting in the birth of two sons, then this happy family making Andrii’s last long journey to Australia.

It is hard to believe that any one person could have endured so much trauma and survived, but survive he did, long enough for one of his sons to tell his amazing story.

Guy Murfey

Author from Melbourne

Andrii Antonenko’s autobiography is one of those rare and special works. It is foremostly an important snapshot of history told by an everyday person. Rather than see the past through the eyes of generals, politicians or academics the reader gets to see the firsthand reality of how ordinary men and women were confronted by the horrors of Stalinist communism, Nazism and the Second World War.

Andrii was extraordinary, every page is a testament to his resilience in the face of unimaginable hardship. The book could equally be read as an adventure, Andrii had a great sense of story that engages a reader, an impressive achievement for a man who had been prevented from completing his formal education. Caught between the great pulverizing ideologies of the twentieth century, his struggle is a triumph.