Tears over Russia : a search for family and the legacy of Ukraine's pogroms
Title:
Tears over Russia : a search for family and the legacy of Ukraine's pogroms
Author:
Brahin, Lisa, author.
ISBN:
9781639361670
Personal Author:
Edition:
First Pegasus Books cloth edition.
Physical Description:
xxvi, 305 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), portraits (some color) ; 24 cm
Contents:
Preface: A granddaughter's memories -- Russian Jewish timeline: a brief chronology of historical events, 1881--1921 -- Prologue: Stavishche, June 15--16, 1919 -- Part I: Calm before the storm: 1876-1918 -- Family folklore -- A total eclipse -- A Passover tragedy -- Days of innocence -- Avrum Cutler's brief betrothals -- Count Wladyslaw Branicki and the noble family of Stavishche -- Part II: The pogroms: 1917-1920 -- Grigoriev's bandits -- From village to village -- Ataman Zeleny meets Rabbi Pitsie Avram -- The murder of Bessie Cutler's husband -- General Denikin's militia -- Refuge in Belaya Tserkov -- Part III: Exodus to the Goldene Medina, 1920-1925 -- There was a place nearby, where they made the little coffins -- The unlikely arrival of Barney Stumacher, an American hero -- The great escape: the wagon trains -- The perilous crossing of the Dniester River -- Adventures in Romania -- Life in Kishinev -- Journey on the SS Braga -- America: the first years -- Part IV: Rebecca and Isaac's children: select stories in Philadelphia, 1926-1931 -- Struggling in the golden land -- The story of Anne and Ben -- When Sunny met Harry -- Beryl -- Part V: Rabbis and reunions 1941-1950 rainbows 1925 and 2003 -- Rabbi Pitsie Avram in the Bronx -- The events that defined their lives in the New World -- Rainbows.
Abstract:
"Between 1917 and 1921, twenty years before the Holocaust began, an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 Jews were murdered in anti-Jewish pogroms across Ukraine. Lisa grew up transfixed by her grandmother Channa's stories about her family being forced to flee their hometown of Stavishche, as armies and bandit groups raided village after village, killing Jewish residents. Channa described a perilous three-year journey through Russia and Romania, led at first by a gallant American who had snuck into Ukraine to save his immediate family and ended up leading an exodus of nearly eighty to safety. With almost no published sources to validate her grandmother's tales, Lisa embarked on her incredible journey to tell Channa's story, forging connections with archivists around the world to find elusive documents to fill in the gaps of what happened in Stavishche. She also tapped into connections closer to home, gathering testimonies from her grandmother's relatives, childhood friends and neighbors. The result is a moving historical family narrative that speaks to universal human themes--the resilience and hope of ordinary people surviving the ravages of history and human cruelty. With the growing passage of time, it is unlikely that we will see another family saga emerge so richly detailing this forgotten time period. Tears Over Russia eloquently proves that true life is sometimes more compelling than fiction." -- Provided by publisher.
