Delfiny i Belzebub

How, in a war waged against all living things, can we preserve humanity?

In this literary reportage from Ukraine, Wojciech Tochman, one of Poland’s most eminent reporters and authors of non-fiction, explores the plight of animals in times of war, and how, in such tragic moments, our relationship with non-humans reflects our own humanity.

A prose documentary based on real-life stories of people and animals who found themselves in the war zone and under occupation.

The rescue of animals becomes an important moral barometer of humanity in the face of extreme violence and constant danger. This book is about day-to-day survival, fear, responsibility and the choices made by ordinary people. It explores grief, suffering and ecocide, but also courage, a love of life and the bond between humans and animals. Where does the line lie between empathy and mortal danger? Between reason and madness? A literary reportage of extraordinary power, a book written at the very heart of animal and human suffering, at the very heart of war, carried by powerful and eminently literary prose.

A people's war. But is it? People drag others into their madness too - animals, plants, the landscape, water and air, all of nature. They too are the victims of violence and destruction. For me, the most shocking and moving moment following the outbreak of full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022 was when I saw people fleeing their towns and villages with their animals in their arms. At the time it occurred to me that this would be a different war, not just because of the use of different warfare technology, but also a new awareness that our life is inseparably tied, both physically and psychologically, with the lives of other creatures. Wojciech Tochman has written a wonderful book, a book that restores our faith in humanity. In it he presents a picture of war in which people risk their own safety to save the weakest victims - the animals. It is one of those rare literary texts that have a permanent effect on their readers and make them better people.

Olga Tokarczuk

Evil destroys everything within its reach; it doesn’t bother to choose; it doesn’t care whom it destroys or whom it kills. The civilians, who are trying to save their world, their families and their animals, form the sad and bitter backdrop to this war, clinging to their truth and believing in justice. We don’t always notice them, hidden behind armoured vehicles and ruined houses, but they are always there somewhere, here, nearby – people and animals facing evil, trying not to look away.

Serhiy Zhadan