WHY ?

Battered Humanity Cycle Tour

Volgograd to Berlin - 2008

Russia: Stalingrad (Volgograd) - Kalach du Don

Ukraine: Lugansk - Donetsk - Dnepropetsk - Cherkasy - Kiev - Babi Yar - Lyvov

Poland: Przemysl - Krakow - Auschwitz - Katowice - Wroclaw

Germany: Gorlitz - Dresden - Berlin

Definitions

Battered

1. To hit heavily and repeatedly with violent blows.

2. To subject to repeated beatings or physical abuse.

3. To damage, as by heavy wear.

Humanity

1. Humans considered as a group; the human race.

2. The condition or quality of being human.

3. The quality of being humane; benevolence.

4. A humane characteristic, attribute, or act.

The idea for this journey arrived in my mind some years ago through my long interest in twentieth century history, particularly the conflict between Germany and Russia from June 1941 to May 9^th 1945 known in the West as the Eastern Front and to the Russians as the Great Patriotic War.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening of the archives which allowed professional historians to look again at these event again. Much has been revealed regarding the brutal conduct of the Soviet Army during this period towards its enemies, the civil population of the countries it conquered and towards its own soldiers. The achievement of its armed forces in defeating Hitlers Germany given their terrible suffering is even more remarkable.

I couldn’t quite understand initially why I wanted to do this trip and to this moment I often feel my explanation to others and to myself is not fully adequate.

I was moved along in my thinking by the poem "Church Going" by Philip Larkin

"Since somebody will always be surprising

A hunger in himself to be more serious

And gravitating with it to this ground

He once heard was so proper to grow wise in

If only that so many dead lie round"

The area I will cycle through was the "centre of gravity " for
the war in Europe as the area was conquered and reconquered
by the armies of  two dictators
and  created a truly staggering loss of life.

Western Belarus and Ukraine and Eastern Poland with long established
Jewish communities were subject to the most intense warfare,
the worst civilian horrors, deportations, German and Soviet
occupation and the scourging of the Holocaust.

The Ukraine lost the greatest number of its civilian population of any country in Europe.

Belarus lost the highest proportion of its civilian population

The journey was always going to be Stalingrad (now Volgograd) to Berlin.

It was going to be a walk ( Would have took too long – so no)

By train as it was in keeping with how humanity was moved around, both armies used trains and Auschwitz was deliberately sited at a major railway junction (decided it would not require sufficient physical effort on my part – so no)

On an elderly Royal Enfield motorcycle (It would have required a far longer journey to cover the ground riding there then riding back, again not sufficient effort on my part and overall would have taken longer than the cycle ride - so no again.