Reviews: Don’t Tell the Enemy – Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

This is the latest release by powerhouse historical fiction author, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. Though this is slotted as a middle grade story, the power of this read lends itself to being read by readers of any age group or category. Skrypuch has expertly captured the torment and emotions as “war rages around Krystia’s town, where her uncle and cousin have already died at the hands of the Soviet and Nazi invaders”. The rawness and brutality of war is not tempered. With an uncompromising honesty, Skrypuch reveals to the reader, the merciless barbaric demeanor of occupying Nazi forces and the affects upon the inhabitants of the Ukrainian town. However the savagery of these times is offset throughout the book, as the reader gets glimpses of humanity in unexpected places.

As the author’s note reveal’s this is the inspiring true story of Kateryna Sikorska and her daughter Krystia and it is a story that rings with deep emotion, extraordinary courage, determination, and the strength of the human spirit.

Cameron Ray, CM 4/4 stars: https://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol24/no23/donttellthenemy.htm

Don’t Tell the Enemy is a thought-provoking and difficult book, in terms of both its content and its historical themes, and one that I cannot recommend enough. Based on a real-life story, this fictionalized account looks at the Second World War in the Ukraine through the eyes of a young, innocent narrator/protagonist. This is the Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch’s fourth book about the Second World War. The main character, Krystia, is a young teen who is trying to keep her family together while she watches the world around her fall apart as the occupying Soviets leave her town and are replaced by Nazi soldiers. Krystia is witness to many atrocities, including human slaughter, home invasions, physical violence and starvation. Krystia, herself is not Jewish, but Ukrainian, and at first she does not understand the situation that the Germans are putting her and her extended family into. It is through her job as a servant to a German military leader that she becomes more cognizant of the situation with the Nazis and their treatment of Jewish people and other minitories. Krystia realizes she and her family are threatened and what the fate of the Jewish people in her community will be.

The title refers to the fact that Krystia comes into contact with a vindictive and mean-spirited girl who threatens to tell the Nazis that Krystia’s family has not been abiding by their rules. This infraction occurred when Krystia’s aunt was forced to leave her home and took both her chickens with her. Her crime? All goods and property now belonged to the Nazi regime. Krystia lives for several days in terror, fearing that her mother or younger sister will be taken away from her because of the girl’s threat, their father having died of natural causes the year before. These themes of fear and retribution run throughout the story and set the book’s moral tone. Krystia has cousins and aunts who are hiding in the woods, and she longs to join them but fears the retribution that would be brought upon her family if she just “disappeared”. The novel also shows the tactics and propaganda used by the Nazis to control people. The main character, along with her sister, mother and extended family, believe in freedom and that the murdering of Jews is wrong. Krystia has witnessed the slaughter of Jews and has seen the mass graves; because of this, her family takes it upon themselves to hide three people who were to be sent to Auschwitz under their floorboards, an action which ends in the punishment and tragic killing of Krystia’s mother.

Don’t Tell the Enemy is excellently paced, and the story unfolds at a rate that makes readers want to continue reading. The novel is also shorter which will appeal to reluctant readers. The narrator and all the principlal characters are dynamic and fully-realized. The use of some Ukrainian words throughout the book is a very nice touch that reminds the reader where the book is taking place. It is also interesting to note that Krystia does not come at the world with any bias; she does not dislike or hate the Germans when they arrive, but through her interactions with them, she makes decisions about who are the good people and who are the bad around her.

The impact of Don’t Tell the Enemy is profound as it shows, with realism, the atrocities of the Nazis and their treatment of people during the Second World War, and the impact they had on their victims and enemies. As members of the Ukranian resistance are working together to try to stop the Nazis, they have to do so in extreme secrecy or risk becoming victims. The innocence of the narrator allows readers into the world of someone who initially does not understand what is going on around her. This book does not shy away from the realities of what occurred during the Holocaust, and, as such, it is important reading material for teens so that they can better comprehend this period. Don’t Tell the Enemy is a must-have for any teen historical fiction collection.

Highly Recommended.

Cameron Ray is a Youth Services Specialist Librarian with the North York Central Library.

Libris Notes:

Don’t Tell The Enemy is another excellent. well-written novel from Canadian award-winning author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. This novel focuses on the life in one small town in the Ukraine during World War II. Similar events to those portrayed in the novel in the fictional town of Viteretz, occurred throughout the Ukraine, as evidenced by the existence of many mass graves throughout the country.It is believed that there are more than 700 mass graves scattered throughout the Ukraine. Over 1 millions Jewish Ukrainians were murdered by the Nazis during their occupation of the country.

The story is told through the eyes of fourteen year old Krystia who is based on Krystia Sikorska, who was a mere eight years old in 1941 and who survived the war and now lives in Canada. Don’t Tell The Enemy is a fictionalized account of some of what Krystia lived through and as Forchuk Skrypuch states in her Author’s Note, many of the characters in the novel were real people.

Don’t Tell The Enemy captures the brutality and the terror that existed for the Ukrainians, Polish and Jews who lived under Nazi occupation. Forchuk Skrypuch doesn’t spare young readers any of the details of life during this time. The novel describes several mass murders, the forcing of Jews into a ghetto with the ultimate goal of murdering everyone, the terrible risks and courage of those in the resistance, and the dignified behaviour of the Jewish people even when they were brutally mistreated.

Also captured is the disconnected behaviour of Nazis who live what seems to be cultured lives while either actively participating in or at least being aware of the atrocities occuring. For example, when Krystia makes milk deliveries to Frau and Herr Lange who live in the Kitais’ confiscated home and are expecting a baby, she notes the beautiful cherrywood bassinet in the nursery and wonders “…where it had come from. Were the old owners now in a slave camp or ghetto? Or had they already been killed? Frau Lange seemed cheerful and oblivious…How could they seem so normal, even almost nice, yet live like vultures — benefiting from the destruction of others.”

As the Nazis strip the Jewish people of their rights, their homes and their dignity, Krystia becomes determined to resist in any way possible. She is portrayed as a courageous, intelligent girl determined to do the right thing, even in the face of deadly consequences to herself and what remains of her family. She sees these acts as ones of defiance in the midst of a town now filled with enemies. At considerable risk, Krystia and her mother choose to hide three Jews under the floor of their home. Krystia secrets food and medicine into the Jewish ghetto and helps Mr. Segal forge papers to be used to help Jews escape. The penalty is death for any of these actions.

Although the village of Viteretz is fictional, a map locating the Ukraine in relation to the Soviet Union and Germany in 1941 would be helpful for younger readers.

Don’t Tell The Enemy is another well-written, informative novel about little known events during World War II, events that should never be forgotten. This novel, brings those events to light for yet another generation of young people, ensuring that both the good and evil acts of this time will be remembered and the people who died will not be forgotten.

Readers wishing to learn more about the Ukrainian Holocaust are encouraged to check out the following:
Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies website
The Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine which also has an article on Nazi War Crimes in Ukraine.

Canlit for Little Canadians:

The Soviets have oppressed the Ukrainian homeland of twelve-year-old Krystia Fediuk for centuries but their occupation since 1939 has been a reign of terror for the Ukrainians, Poles and Jews in the town of Viteretz with appropriation of homes, imposed hunger, deportation to slave camps and execution. With the Germans marching into Ukraine in 1941 and the Soviets fleeing, there are initial hopes and even proclamations of Ukrainian independence. But the good spirits that come with the egress of their oppressors and the bestowing of food, as well as the opening of the church, are soon suspended as the Nazis begin to show their true objectives.

Krystia, her younger sister Maria and their mother Kateryna live amongst a diverse neighbourhood of Jewish, Ukrainian and Polish families of both modest and wealthier means and a Catholic church with resident priest, surrounded by farms. Some residents are already gone, whether deported to Siberian slave camps, executed by trigger-happy Soviets or in hiding from the Soviet secret police, the NKVD, like Krystia’s Uncle Ivan. Regardless of atrocities, life must go on, and that includes taking their cow Krasa to pasture daily, tending to the garden, feeding the chickens and fetching water, always keeping their heads down to avoid suffering the wrath of the Soviets. But when the Germans roll in, their community begins to change in different ways. In addition to the Nazis, refugees from Germany as well as Volksdeutsche–ethnic Germans from Slav countries–begin to flood the area and force the displacement of residents. Then the summons from Commandant Hermann begin, first naming a hundred Jewish men and declaring them to be murderers of those imprisoned by Soviets. The community is stunned when the men are shot and amassed in a single grave.

The terror of the Nazis escalates with their acceptance of Aryan, German and Volksdeutsche as The Master Race and all others as subhuman, with particular targetting of the Jewish people, both in mass executions and then segregation into a Jewish Ghetto. After her Auntie Iryna goes to live with the insurgents in their forest encampment, Krystia takes on the role of courier of photos and falsified documentation. With food rationed to starvation levels, fines imposed for random acts and their Jewish friends in danger of imminent death, Krystia and her mother take increasing risks to survive and help their friends and family.

…that the way to honor our family and friends was to be strong and to live and to tell their stories. (pg. 177)

Based on the true story of Kateryna Sikorska and her daughter Krystia Korpan, Don’t Tell the Enemy reveals the often overlooked position of Ukraine during World War II when the terrorism historically imposed by the Soviets escalated to horrors which many believed would be appeased by the Germans. But invasion is invasion and oppression is still that. The shift from the Soviets persecuting all in their community to the brutality levelled by the Nazis against the Jewish people and those who might help them is especially tragic. A simple life of family and work now becomes an exercise in survival and even more perilous with the pitting of groups of people. No one should have to choose. While some appear to do so easily and heartlessly, there are others like Krystia and her family who demonstrate incredible courage and resilience in the face of death and fear. Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch in her author’s notes mentions that she almost wrote this as a piece of non-fiction but chose to tell it as a fictionalized account to do the story justice. She chose well and admirably tells a story that needs to be read to appreciate the circumstances of those living in western Ukraine during World War II when enemies were plentiful, dangers ubiquitous, survival precarious and a few good people could make all the difference.

Resource Links
Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch returns to her strength: fictionalizing for young readers the painful stories of oppressed peoples. As she states in her Author’s note, this novel is inspired by a true story of a courageous Ukrainian family, and their two young daughters.

In 1941, the Russians are retreating from this village in Ukraine, after pillaging all its resources, starving the population and killing many civilians. The villagers are relieved, but after only a few days of freedom, the Ukraine is occupied by the Nazis. The oppression resumes, with even greater cruelty. The family which is the focus consists of a widowed woman, and her two daughters, and various extended family members who live in the area. The Nazis impose their Hunger Plan for the local population: all food is absconded to be given to German civilians brought to the village, and locals are given one slice of bread per person per day. They subsist by foraging for wild vegetation, scouting the train tracks and ditches for items which may have fallen, trading when possible on the black market, and selling the milk from their one cow. The Jewish population, their long-time friends and neighbours, are rounded up and sent to a ghetto of abandoned buildings, encircled with barbed wire. The resistance fighters, initiated during the Russian occupation and continuing under the Nazis, attempt to provide aid, but any opposition is met with public executions and burial in mass graves. This brave family risks their lives to shelter three escaped Jews in their home, hidden in a hole dug under their stove. When the escapees are discovered, they are all killed and the mother is hung in the village square. With the aid of the resistance, the daughters escape. This family is honoured at Yad Vashem the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel, as one of twenty-five hundred Ukrainians recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.

This novel is a tough read, as it reveals the worst of man’s inhumanity. But there is also inspiration in the courage and strength possible in the bleakest of circumstances.

Thematic Links: World War II; Ukrainian History–20th Century; Nazism; Resistance; Family

Patricia Jermey