How George Orwell’s Animal Farm is helping Ukraine 76 years on

Copy first aimed at Ukraine’s Second World War refugees will now aid those fleeing Russian invasion

(Jarndyce)

A first edition Ukrainian language copy of George Orwell’s Animal Farm is set to go on sale to raise money for a charity supporting refugees who fled the Russian invasion.

The Ukrainian translation of the seminal satire of the Russian revolution was the only one to feature a foreword from Orwell – written at the behest of his publisher, who felt the author should introduce himself to the edition’s intended audience of Ukrainians displaced by the Second World War.

Ihor Sevcenko, who translated the book, told Orwell that these “poor people with strained nerves” could be “extremely self-conscious and sensitive, especially as far as contacts with the West or Westerners are concerned”.