Garden of Gethsemane

«It is better to break the ribs of a hundred innocent people than to let one guilty person go free» — this is the horrific motto of the 1930s, an era that devastated the lives of millions of Ukrainians. This tragic experience is described in Ivan Bahrianyi's novel «The Garden of Gethsemane».

Through the life of Andriy Chumak, the author shows in detail how the cruel repressive mechanism of the Soviet system worked. A system that enslaved and destroyed people mercilessly, regardless of their achievements, origin, age or gender. Doctor, poet, director of a gymnasium — in prison your past does not matter. No matter who you were or what you did, you will still end up at the bottom.
But despite all the horrors, Ivan Bahrianyi is convinced: resistance to evil is necessary, even when it seems that there is no point in fighting anymore. The final choice always depends on the person.