From Stalin to Putin…the Last Great Secret of the Second World War
By KGE Konkel
Many observers see Russia’s war against Ukraine as the product of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s narcissistic personality and megalomaniacal quest for glory. But …what if the genesis of Putin’s war was sown decades ago in the rise of Soviet Imperialism and the actions of another brutal dictator, Joseph Stalin? That tantalizing theory is explored in the shocking new novel, Who Has Buried the Dead, the third book by successful author and career law enforcement officer KGE “Chuck” Konkel.
“After years of in-depth research, I believe I have discovered one of the last great secrets of the Second World War,” said Konkel. It is based on historical facts so critical to the emerging world order that the NKVD, Gestapo, and the Allies led a desperate search, using any means, including murder, to locate it for their uses. Yet somehow, its very existence has not been factored into the histories of the Second World War. “I illuminate this discovery in the pages of Who Has Buried the Dead to answer, among other things, the age-old question of how mad men and their loyal supporters can still convince modern nations and educated people of the necessity of going to war?”
Russia’s brutal levelling of Ukraine’s cities, indiscriminate killings, and political mass murders greatly resemble what happened in the forests of Katyn in Belarus over seventy years ago and represent an extension of the reality of Stalin’s Russia in WWII. That legacy lives on in Putin’s attack on western democracy. Who has Buried the Dead provides profound historical insights into the mindsets of Soviet hierarchy, its naively loyal base and the threats binding them blindly to their supreme leader, both then and now.
With its complex mix of historical figures and fictitious personalities, is “Who Has Buried the Dead” a work of nuanced historical fiction or detailed historical fact? Is Putin really working from Stalin’s playbook, and if so, what is his diabolical endgame? That is for the individual reader to decide. A gripping tale about a topic ripped from today’s headlines.
About the Author
- KGE “Chuck” Konkel has written two previous thrillers- both extremely well-received nationally and internationally. The Glorious East Wind (Random House Canada/ McGraw Hill US) tells of the final years of British Hong Kong and accurately predicted the Tiananmen Square massacre. Konkel appeared in media across North America on Larry King Live, NBC- national John Miller, PBS national radio, and David Letterman, among many others.
- Evil Never Sleeps (Harper Collins Canada) vividly portrayed the corrupt nature of PRI Mexico’s ruling party and its involvement in Mexico’s state-owned oil company.
- Chuck Konkel is an international organized crime specialist possessing a Master’s degree in International Relations. He was an inspector in the Royal Hong Kong Police and, for more than four decades, continues to serve as an officer and investigator with the Toronto Police. He is an acknowledged expert in Asian and Eastern European Organized Crime fields. He has executed search warrants in Moscow in a site making illicit missile components, was sent by the FBI to train the National Police of Poland, and was the personal advisor on organized crime in Poland to the late Marek Papala-Commissioner of the Polish National Police. Papalia was shot and killed by the Russian Mafia mere weeks after Konkel’s return to Canada. Konkel also executed a search warrant on the Canadian International Development Agency in Ottawa which involved corrupt Russian generals and government officials funnelling their assets into Canada.
- There is also a unique and compelling human interest story in the writing of this novel. Four years ago, Konkel was told he had a rare tumor found in only 1 person in one million and a half. He wrote much of Who Has Buried the Dead while undergoing major surgery and more than 55 chemo treatments. He would return to active duty fulfilling his professional policing duties the very next day after his chemo. Throughout COVID, he was on site and fully operational.
