Based on more than 150 memoirs and testimonies, Oksana Kis’s Survival as Victory provides a subtle and nuanced portrait of Ukrainian women prisoners in the Gulag. Kis is not afraid to tackle all of the aspects of life in the camps, from pregnancy and motherhood to rape and torture, showing how women brought traditionally ‘female’ habits and customs from home into the camps, effectively creating a counterculture to the brutal regime. Survival as Victory is a must-read for students of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Ukraine, as well as for anyone interested in moving stories of real women’s lives.
