Capitalism in Decay

The third part, “The Return of the True Believers,” concentrates mainly on the last ten years, showing in particular how the past, especially from the 1920s to the 1950s, has shaped today’s politics in both Ukraine and Canada. This part also includes a trip to Ukraine (to Lviv, Brody, and elsewhere) in 2022, after the war with Russia began.

The contrast between the two families’ stories is appalling. Through his research, travels, and interviews, the author allows us revisit the birth and development of the murderous fanaticism of the former, who chose to join Hitler’s hordes. He also has the reader grasp the terror suffered by millions of Jews, Poles, Russians, anti-fascist Ukrainians, and anyone who refused to adhere to the Nazi ideology.

For example, the author, who visited all the places inhabited by both, demonstrates how comfortable Chomiak lived from 1940 to 1945, especially in Krakow, the capital of the Nazi occupation government of Poland. This comfort is illustrated in terms of the salary he was paid to edit the Nazi newspaper Krakivski Visti and the offices and equipment needed to do this work, which were confiscated from Jewish owners, but also his lodgings, seized from a Jewish family whose “filth” and “vermin” Chomiak complained to his German employers about.