33 - El Niño 44 - Tom Rob Smith
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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The government of the Soviet Union told its people that they were not afraid, that the state would always be there to protect them from any criminal or criminal, but in this society millions do live with fear of the state. The child 44 is a fictional mystery novel based on aspects of the real life of the terrible Soviet Union of Joseph Stalin. Let's start with the podcast of Bibliotequeando, this new episode of El Niño 44. I'm your host, Ricardo Lugo. As always, you can follow us on the networks, at Bibliotequeando. This book is a book of, let's say, history, more fiction than history, but it's based on a time, which of course existed, which was the Soviet Union of Joseph Stalin. But the story comes from a famous killer named Andrei Chikatilo.
He was also better known, better said, as the Rostov's stripper or Rostov's butcher. He killed 52 people, at least those who were found, those that he admitted, 52 people, mainly women and children. He was condemned, executed within the Soviet Union, although in real life this happened after the Stalin era. What the author does is that he connects this story of Andrei Chikatilo, the Rostov's butcher, with the era of this supposed society, this utopia of the Soviet Union that promoted that there were not even crimes within the Soviet Union in the era of Stalin, we are talking about 1930 to 1920. When Joseph Stalin enters power, one of his principles, let's say, is that we must not lose the feeling that the state is the one that protects its citizens.
The great brother, as George Orwell would say, this has always been persistent throughout Soviet society. And the novel explains a little the paranoia of the time, the educational system, the secret police, the orphanages, homosexuality, the psychiatric hospitals, like everything, for being cared for by the government, they are being watched by the government, and like all these institutions, all these people, they were really afraid of him. to the government. Of course, there were also believers in ideology and everything else, but this book shows, in truth, how people, even the people who are part of the Soviet institution, like the KGB, also realize the evils that the government was committing.
And that is the main character of the novel, an agent of the, at that time it was called the MGB, which is Leo Demidov, who is the main character of this story. For those who are interested in knowing more about the author of the novel, this novel is the first of a trilogy,
What is the significance of the Soviet Union's portrayal of a crime-free society?
My humble recommendation, just read this book, the next two are not worth it, but everyone has their own taste. But the novel for me shows very well the culture of the TAR, as we would say in Venezuela, the culture of Zapiar, so strong at the time. In the Soviet Union, communism was very famous. because people were betraying themselves in terms of families, friends, partners, neighbors. There was no human loyalty, there was no social loyalty. It was all about protecting the state because you were afraid of the state, really. And this unique story of this serial killer within the Soviet Union shows the reality of the time very well. So let's start with this novel that begins in Ukraine in 1933. Specifically in the rural areas of Ukraine in 1933.
At this time we are living in the great famine of Holodomor. This famine was very famous, a catastrophe, a tragedy, a genocide of the Ukrainian people, where at least 5 million people died. 4 million of those people were Ukrainian, which is equivalent to 10, maybe 15% of the Ukrainian population at the time. All this came as a product of Stalinist, socialist policies towards the Ukrainian peasant.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:08
2
What is the significance of the Soviet Union's portrayal of a crime-free society?
3:08–8:02
3
Who is Andrei Chikatilo and what is his connection to the story?
8:02–16:44
4
How does the novel reflect the paranoia of Soviet society during Stalin's era?
16:44–20:52
5
What role does Leo Demidov play in the investigation of the murders?
20:52–23:50
6
How does the story explore themes of loyalty and betrayal in a totalitarian regime?
23:50–25:05
7
How does the Holodomor famine impact the characters and setting?
25:05–33:37
8
What are the implications of Stalin's policies on the Ukrainian population?
33:37–1:14:35
Speakers
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