Recently, I had to reread The Commissar for a translation project we are currently working on, and found so many direct quotes from the novel that still read so true with an unfortunate relevance and timeliness directed at the current Easter European Ukrainian-Russian Crisis.
For your (the readers out there) perusal:
War is a Disease.
Sven Hassel
You don’t have to be in a war for more than five munutes to find out how stupid it all is. There must really be a better way of doing things!
– Porta to Tiny in the outskirts of a burning Russian town. Sven Hassel
You have to hate to be a good soldier in wartime. If you cannot hate whole-heartedly, you cannot kill. Hate is the strongest source in a human being.
Sven Hassel
