Schwarze Erde

For a millennium, Ukrainians lived between borders that constantly shifted beneath their feet; at times belonging to Poland, then to Austria and Lithuania, eventually to Germany, and then to the Soviet Union. And now these borders are in motion again. The state of Ukraine has only existed since 1991; what it was before is as contested among its inhabitants as it is among its European neighbors. Jens Mühling recounts encounters with nationalists and former communists, Crimean Tatars, ethnic Germans, Cossacks, smugglers, archaeologists, and soldiers, whose perspectives could hardly be more different. His book portrays their views on a country about which we know very little - even though it lies in the heart of Europe.