Tag: Russia

“My Hebrew Writing and the MGB Informer”: Excerpt from Zvi Preigerzon’s “Memoirs of a Jewish Prisoner of the Gulag,” with an introduction by Alex Lahav

“My Hebrew Writing and the MGB Informer”: Excerpt from Zvi Preigerzon’s “Memoirs of a Jewish Prisoner of the Gulag,” with an introduction by Alex Lahav

We are pleased to present here an adapted excerpt from Zvi Preigerzon’s Memoirs of a Jewish Prisoner of the Gulag, translated from the Hebrew, accompanied by a personal introduction from editor and translator Alex Lahav. The book tells the story of Zvi Preigerzon’s arrest, interrogation, and imprisonment in the Gulag and describes many of the Jewish prisoners whom he met there.

Defining Patriotism, Citizenship, and Betrayal: Excerpt from “Don’t Be a Stranger” and a personal introduction from Jason Galie

Defining Patriotism, Citizenship, and Betrayal: Excerpt from “Don’t Be a Stranger” and a personal introduction from Jason Galie

We are pleased to present here an excerpt of Don’t Be a Stranger: Russian Literature and the Perils of Not Fitting In, accompanied by a short personal introduction in which the author, Jason Galie, situates the volume’s analysis of the svoj/chuzhoj dichotomy in Russian society and literature within the larger context of the current war in Ukraine. Don’t Be a Stranger explores the consequences of being marked an outsider in the Russian-speaking world through a close study of several seminal works of Russian literature. The author combines the fields of literary studies, linguistics, and sociology to illuminate what prompted Christof Ruhl, an economist at the World Bank, to comment, about Russia, “On a very broad scale, it’s a country where people care about their family and friends. Their clan. But not their society.”

Book of the Week: “Jewish City or Inferno of Russian Israel?” by Victoria Khiterer

Book of the Week: “Jewish City or Inferno of Russian Israel?” by Victoria Khiterer

This week we’re featuring the CHOICE Award-winning Jewish City or Inferno of Russian Israel? A History of the Jews in Kiev before February 1917 by Victoria Khiterer. The book is currently available for purchase at $20.00, $30.00, and $42. Choose the price you think is fair and fits your budget!

This book describes the history of Jews in Kiev from the tenth century to the February 1917 Revolution. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Kiev Jewish community was one of the largest and wealthiest in the Russian Empire. This book illuminates the major processes and events in Kievan Jewish history, including the creation of the Jewish community, the expulsions of Jews from the city, government persecution and Jewish pogroms, the Beilis Affair, the participation of Jews in the political, economic, and cultural life of Kiev, and their contribution to the development of the city.

A Cache of Letters: An Excerpt from When the River Ice Flows, I Will Come Home by Elisa Brodinsky Miller

A Cache of Letters: An Excerpt from When the River Ice Flows, I Will Come Home by Elisa Brodinsky Miller

By the rules of the retirement center in Bloomfield, Connecticut where my father had lived, the family was allotted five working days after his death to clear out the belongings from his cottage. My brother and I had agreed: we wouldn’t save any furniture, just the china, the stemware, the samovar, and the contents of his study. It all was to go into a storage unit near his home in Wallingford, CT. Together, later, we three siblings would sort through it all. Each of us would take what we wanted and we’d toss the rest. We doubted there would be any scraps between us; we three are much too different. Exactly a year after our father’s death, I traveled from Seattle, my sister came from Charlotte, to stay with my brother and his wife.