Author Description

This narrative records people's lives, survival, and endurance during three different wars. It records three generations of this book's author. My grandparents passed most of these brutal, life-long stories and experiences recorded here to me. Though not intended to simply be stories in a book, this account prepared me with knowledge vital for my survival during the wars I lived through. The possibility of a future conflict was well known to the local people because of the country's geographical and physical location, but most importantly, the land had to offer rich natural resources. Ukraine, the largest country in Europe, has Poland on the west and Russia on the east and acts as a buffer between the East and the West. This land is known for its fertile soil, earning it the title of "The Breadbasket of Europe." However, the government is not interested in improving the primitive living conditions of the common folk or tribal population. On the contrary, the government's primary objective is to strengthen their weaponry, increase their arms, and take as much territory as possible, by any means. These are the stories of my grandparents, Miccla and Olympiada.