The Stalingrad Protocols

Even 70 years after the fact, “Stalingrad”, the turning point of the Second World War, is usually still depicted from a stylised viewpoint that paints the Germans as victims. For a long time, there has been an absence of authentic Russian voices. Now Jochen Hellbeck, an expert on Russian history, has made a spectacular discovery: several hundred records of conversations, previously kept under wraps in Russian archives. They present an entirely new perspective on the battle: here, privates and generals, fighter pilots and medics, and even the inhabitants of the city report their experiences to a commission of historians. These open, plain, first-hand accounts were recorded even before the conflict was over. Their openness, however, prevented their publication under Stalin, and even later. This represents a long overdue reappraisal of the Russians' desperate struggle to defend their homeland.