Comparing Snyder's Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler And Stalin

Great Essays
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder argues that in the geographic region that he entitles “Bloodlands”, the area between Germany and Russia, during 1933-1945 under the Stalinist and Nazi regime resulted in over 14 million deaths committed by brutal regimes. His hope in this book is to look at the two regimes and how they respectively killed so many citizens but also to give Eastern Europe the attention it has not yet received from a historical perspective and demonstrate that there was than just the Jews who were killed before and during the Second World War in this area. Snyder does this by beginning in the 1930s with the Ukrainian famine and ends with the continuation of anti-Semitism in the post war era. In doing this, Snyder has brought this era of history to the forefront of the public psyche as he demonstrates in an innovative way the effects of two totalitarian regimes on the Bloodlands.
The book opens with the Ukrainian famine which resulted in 3.3 million deaths (Snyder, 411). Snyder presents the reasoning behind the man made famine was a punishment of failed collectivization (Snyder, 33 42-44, 411). He next moves on to the deliberate
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Snyder focuses not only on the statistics but also personal testimony from citizens from this time period. This is especially successful as he creates a deeply moving story as he brings a human quality back to the narrative (Ahonen, 6). This combination creates an accessible and easy read for academics and the general public alike. From this, Snyder’s arguments can reach a broader audience as it is geared towards encouraging further research but also general awareness for the mass

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