The Hand That Signed the Paper by Helen Darville [Helen Demidenko] [Helen Dale]

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges. Previous owner has signed inside cover and stamped inside half-title page. Foxing to foredges. Bend to back cover left corner.

The Hand that Signed the Paper tells the story of Vitaly, a Ukrainian peasant, who endures the destruction of his village and family by Stalin's communism. He welcomes the Nazi invasion in 1941 and willingly enlists in the SS Death Squads to take horrifying revenge against those he perceives to be his persecutors.

The initial controversy over this book stemmed from allegations of antisemitism. The second controversy, which overlapped the first, pertained less to the book than its author. The book’s publicity stressed Demidenko’s Ukrainian ancestry, supposedly the source for her controversial material.

None of that was true. Demidenko was, in fact, born Helen Darville, the daughter of English parents – and the revelations about her extraordinary deception embarrassed the book’s supporters, many of whom had relied on claims about “authenticity” in their defences of it. (The Guardian website)

Some books express views that are offensive. These views are not the views of The Book Merchant. This book should be seen in its historical context as a literary subdiffusion.