The preface
War is not a new subject in literature. It is hard to estimate the number of famous writers who described hostilities in their works.Millions of lives taken, fates crippled; children left orphans; families scattered all over the world – there is a great many of such stories, which attract artists and inspire them to share with the whole world.
Formerly I never thought I would write about war. I never thought of writing books at all. But still I decided to try my hand in writing area.
It was not easy. But it is always difficult to start any thing. Even more, popularity of books about war in twenty-first century is a controversial issue.
During the first ten or twenty years after the end World War II was everywhere – books, poems, songs, movies. People's memories were still recent; wounds were not completely healed, so such a subject was attractive for general public. But this terrifying episode of history is becoming a thing of the past, year by year; the witnesses of war are passing away. In a few more decades there will be no one who could tell at least something about those years.
I had been monitoring literary trends for a while. Then, it became clear for me – dime novels are mostly in demand nowadays. It is the best option for those who are not used to spend much time deep in thought – a typical read-and-forget option. Such genres as crime novels and fantasy are popular as well. These books are much better, at least because they inspire the readers to their own literary accomplishments, develop analytical thinking and the ability to structure logical sequences. No wonder that a real crime novels lover can predict the murderer, having read the first five or ten pages of another novel.
Books about war have a narrow range of readers nowadays. It is a godsend for real literature gourmets. This way, I decided that my task is to present the subject in such a way that it can be interesting not only for elderly, but for youth as well.
For this purpose, I decided to unite the work-of-fiction elements, historical events and my own perspective on World War II and the global situation so far. The issues raised in the book somehow address the war, including World War II. All these nuances – from local conflicts to global challenges – became catalysts, which inevitably affected the tide of the war and even worsened the situation on the global stage. Moreover, these problems haven't disappeared. There hadn't been any world wars for a long time, but less global conflicts are still with us. People created these problems. So only people are capable of doing everything to make these problems depart into oblivion or become less painful.
Though the fiction part of book is the realm of my fantasy, I do not deny that events to be told about couldn't happen during the war. There could be other names, other addresses, other city in other country.
Now we come to the core of the matter – what set the stage for writing the book?
When I was fourteen years old, I became a bystander of a dialogue between two women retirees, citizens of Zhytomyr. The point was that the granddaughter of one of the women had left to Germany for education. Then my attention was diverted by the other woman's remark. I can't be accurate in my words, but the substance was something like the following: "She [the granddaughter] is not welcome to deal with those fascists".
It would be fine, but the further course of conversation showed that the word "fascists" addressed those Germans, who were born after the war had ended; those who live in Germany nowadays. According to woman's line of thought, even through decades after World War II's end, when there is no dictatorship in Germany, when the fighting against Neonazism lasts inside the state, when Germany itself is not an aggressor country anymore – even younger generation of Germans is still perceived as enemies.
