Once the Nazis were defeated in 1945, the people of Eastern Europe expected liberation. Instead, they found themselves subjected to a tyranny that was arguably worse than the horrors they’d already endured during World War 2. In Iron Curtain, Anne Applebaum, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize, explains exactly how, in little over a decade, Communism was imposed on such a wide range of societies in such a short time.
Using a wide range of source material – including newly discovered archival material, interviews with those who were there at the time and many sources previously unknown in English – Applebaum traces the Communists’ tactics as they bullied, threatened and murdered their way to power.
Just as Gulag examined the personal stories of the people who suffered in the labour camps, Iron Curtain is not simply a story of high politics but also a chronicle of the individual lives affected by the tightening grip of Communism. The stories of dozens of individuals and the choices they were forced to make – to fight, flee or collaborate – are brilliantly woven into the overall narrative.
At a time when a number political regime changes are occurring around the world, Iron Curtain is not just an important history of a brutal period in European history, but also a timely reminder of the fragility of all societies and how vulnerable they can be to the predations of determined enemies.