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It has long been assumed that there was no Holocaust memory in the Soviet Union. Official Soviet ideology lumped the 1.5 million Soviet Jews exterminated by the Nazis into the 26 million Soviet war deaths. So, the little Holocaust memory that existed was hidden away in families and communities. Recent scholarship, however, has painted a more complicated picture. Yes, official Holocaust memory was circumscribed. And, true, many privately commemorated its memory. But, as a new collection of Soviet Holocaust fiction, translated by Sasha Senderovich and Harriet Murav, shows that there was published Holocaust literature in the Soviet Union. Especially in the Yiddish language journal, Sovetish Heymland. How did Soviet authors treat the Holocaust? How did it differ from work elsewhere? And what are some of the challenges translating these works into English? To find out more, the Eurasian Knot spoke to Sasha and Harriet about their recent collection, In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union, published by Stanford University Press.Guests:Sasha Senderovich is Associate Professor of Slavic Languages & Literatures and of International Studies at the University of Washington. He is the author of How the Soviet Jew Was Made. Harriet Murav is Center for Advanced Study Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her most recent book is As the Dust of the Earth: The Literature of Abandonment in Revolutionary Russia and Ukraine.They are the translators of In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union, published by Stanford University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#holocausteducation #jewishidentity #sovietunionHas Holocaust Education Failed the Jewish Community? | Rabbi Daniel Levine & Naya Lekht
In the month since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become a global icon. Zelensky, who was elected in 2019 and chose to remain in his country during the assault, is Ukraine's first Jewish president. His Jewishness, already notable given the nation's history of antisemitism, has taken on new symbolic importance in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim that the assault is justified by its goal of “denazification.” Many Jews around the world, some of whose ancestors once lived in Ukraine, have come to identify with Zelensky, who embodies many of the contradictions of post-Soviet Jewishness, and whose attempts to lobby on behalf of his nation—including in a recent speech before the Israeli Knesset—have highlighted questions about the politics of post-Soviet Holocaust memory. On today's episode, Newsletter Editor David Klion speaks with a panel of writers and contributors to the new Soviet Issue of Jewish Currents—Julia Alekseyeva, Linda Kinstler, and Helen Betya Rubinstein—about Zelensky's Jewishness and the meaning of Jewish identity in post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine. Books, Articles, TV Shows, and Podcasts Mentioned: https://jewishcurrents.org/issue/winter-spring-2022 (The Soviet Issue of Jewish Currents) “https://jewishcurrents.org/travesty-show (Travesty Show: An Illustrated Correspondence)” by Nicholas Muellner and Helen Betya Rubinstein https://www.netflix.com/title/80119382 (Servant of the People) “https://jewishcurrents.org/our-oligarch (Our Oligarch)” by David Klion “https://jewishcurrents.org/the-many-oblivions-of-babi-yar (The Many Oblivions of Babi Yar)” by Linda Kinstler https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9781621069690 (Soviet Daughter: A Graphic Revolution) by Julia Alekseyeva https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/revolutions_podcast/ (Revolutions podcast) “https://www.timesofisrael.com/is-ukraines-top-presidential-candidate-jewish-even-his-spokesman-wont-comment/ (Is Ukraine's top presidential candidate Jewish? Even his spokesman won't comment)” by Julie Masis Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Maksim Goldenshteyn, a Russian-speaking Jew in Seattle, just published arguably the foremost book about Romania's overlooked role in the Holocaust, centered on the survival story of his Ukrainian Jewish family. So Goldenshteyn and I have a very personal conversation about Holocaust memory as Soviet Jews, the bitterness we feel about how the Holocaust in Eastern Europe is often overlooked, and our own insecurities about transmitting family history.To help Ukraine: https://tcjewfolk.com/resources-to-help-ukraine/Say hello! Lev@tcjewfolk.comhttps://jewfolk-inc.creator-spring.com/https://tcjewfolk.com/donate/https://www.maksimgoldenshteyn.com/https://bookshop.org/books/so-they-remember-a-jewish-family-s-story-of-surviving-the-holocaust-in-soviet-ukraine/9780806176062https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/the-holocaust-by-bullets-a-priests-journey-to-uncover-the-truth-behind-the-murder-of-15https://tcjewfolk.com/the-jewish-case-for-supporting-ukraine/http://www.inshr-ew.ro/sondaj-de-opinie-holocaust-2021/https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cJkxQ1b7JBHj8j0AoqaG6tD3hnqW8EL8AwyQlURZs-U/edit?usp=sharing
Fifty years of Holocaust screenplays and films -largely unknown, killed by censors, and buried in dusty archives – come to life in Olga Gershenson‘s The Phantom Holocaust: Soviet Cinema and Jewish Catastrophe (Rutgers University Press, 2013). As she ventures across three continents to uncover the stories behind these films, we follow her adventures, eager to learn what happened, why, when – and what comes next. This page-turning exploration begins with the first-ever films made about the Nazi threat to Jewish life in the 1930s – artistically successful movies released to crowded theaters in the USSR, Europe, and the US. The power of film being what it is, some 1930s viewers learned the lesson of Nazi hatred and fled to safety when Germany invaded the USSR in 1941. Immediately after the war, Soviet filmmakers again broke new ground when in 1945 they portrayed the Holocaust in “The Unvanquished.” The war just over, Soviet censors, Gershenson discovered, had no set policy and hardly knew how Stalin wanted them to respond. But the respected filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein supported the film, a movie featuring Jewish victims filmed on site in Kiev; it became one of the few Soviet movies that identified the Holocaust with Jews. Thereafter, the Holocaust would be a universal problem sans Jews that occurred anywhere but in the USSR. Among the stories that Gershenson relates, she raises the curtain on “Ordinary Fascism,” a blockbuster when it was released in the USSR in 1966. The three-hour black-and-white documentary montage, narrated by its famous director Mikhail Romm, apparently drew 20 million Soviets to cinemas before it was withdrawn. Gershenson describes Ordinary Fascism as “a real breakthrough,” “stunning,” and an explosion.” Romm’s irreverent, casual commentary to Nazi newsreels, footage, photos, and art explored the psychology of Nazism – and, viewers recognized, made Soviets reflect on themselves. Why did Soviet censors refuse to permit a book on the subject to be released? Censors explained that a film would be seen once and forgotten. A book, on the other hand, would start people thinking! As Gershenson explains: “Half of all Holocaust victims…were killed on Soviet soil, mostly in swift machine-gun executions. And yet, watching popular Holocaust movies…the impression is that Holocaust victims were mainly Polish and German Jews killed in concentration camps.” Her stories explain why Soviet filmmakers almost never shared the Soviet Holocaust experience on the screen. Gershenson’s book has a partner website. Here you can find video clips of featured films, with subtitles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Fifty years of Holocaust screenplays and films -largely unknown, killed by censors, and buried in dusty archives – come to life in Olga Gershenson‘s The Phantom Holocaust: Soviet Cinema and Jewish Catastrophe (Rutgers University Press, 2013). As she ventures across three continents to uncover the stories behind these films, we follow her adventures, eager to learn what happened, why, when – and what comes next. This page-turning exploration begins with the first-ever films made about the Nazi threat to Jewish life in the 1930s – artistically successful movies released to crowded theaters in the USSR, Europe, and the US. The power of film being what it is, some 1930s viewers learned the lesson of Nazi hatred and fled to safety when Germany invaded the USSR in 1941. Immediately after the war, Soviet filmmakers again broke new ground when in 1945 they portrayed the Holocaust in “The Unvanquished.” The war just over, Soviet censors, Gershenson discovered, had no set policy and hardly knew how Stalin wanted them to respond. But the respected filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein supported the film, a movie featuring Jewish victims filmed on site in Kiev; it became one of the few Soviet movies that identified the Holocaust with Jews. Thereafter, the Holocaust would be a universal problem sans Jews that occurred anywhere but in the USSR. Among the stories that Gershenson relates, she raises the curtain on “Ordinary Fascism,” a blockbuster when it was released in the USSR in 1966. The three-hour black-and-white documentary montage, narrated by its famous director Mikhail Romm, apparently drew 20 million Soviets to cinemas before it was withdrawn. Gershenson describes Ordinary Fascism as “a real breakthrough,” “stunning,” and an explosion.” Romm’s irreverent, casual commentary to Nazi newsreels, footage, photos, and art explored the psychology of Nazism – and, viewers recognized, made Soviets reflect on themselves. Why did Soviet censors refuse to permit a book on the subject to be released? Censors explained that a film would be seen once and forgotten. A book, on the other hand, would start people thinking! As Gershenson explains: “Half of all Holocaust victims…were killed on Soviet soil, mostly in swift machine-gun executions. And yet, watching popular Holocaust movies…the impression is that Holocaust victims were mainly Polish and German Jews killed in concentration camps.” Her stories explain why Soviet filmmakers almost never shared the Soviet Holocaust experience on the screen. Gershenson’s book has a partner website. Here you can find video clips of featured films, with subtitles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Fifty years of Holocaust screenplays and films -largely unknown, killed by censors, and buried in dusty archives – come to life in Olga Gershenson‘s The Phantom Holocaust: Soviet Cinema and Jewish Catastrophe (Rutgers University Press, 2013). As she ventures across three continents to uncover the stories behind these films, we follow her adventures, eager to learn what happened, why, when – and what comes next. This page-turning exploration begins with the first-ever films made about the Nazi threat to Jewish life in the 1930s – artistically successful movies released to crowded theaters in the USSR, Europe, and the US. The power of film being what it is, some 1930s viewers learned the lesson of Nazi hatred and fled to safety when Germany invaded the USSR in 1941. Immediately after the war, Soviet filmmakers again broke new ground when in 1945 they portrayed the Holocaust in “The Unvanquished.” The war just over, Soviet censors, Gershenson discovered, had no set policy and hardly knew how Stalin wanted them to respond. But the respected filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein supported the film, a movie featuring Jewish victims filmed on site in Kiev; it became one of the few Soviet movies that identified the Holocaust with Jews. Thereafter, the Holocaust would be a universal problem sans Jews that occurred anywhere but in the USSR. Among the stories that Gershenson relates, she raises the curtain on “Ordinary Fascism,” a blockbuster when it was released in the USSR in 1966. The three-hour black-and-white documentary montage, narrated by its famous director Mikhail Romm, apparently drew 20 million Soviets to cinemas before it was withdrawn. Gershenson describes Ordinary Fascism as “a real breakthrough,” “stunning,” and an explosion.” Romm’s irreverent, casual commentary to Nazi newsreels, footage, photos, and art explored the psychology of Nazism – and, viewers recognized, made Soviets reflect on themselves. Why did Soviet censors refuse to permit a book on the subject to be released? Censors explained that a film would be seen once and forgotten. A book, on the other hand, would start people thinking! As Gershenson explains: “Half of all Holocaust victims…were killed on Soviet soil, mostly in swift machine-gun executions. And yet, watching popular Holocaust movies…the impression is that Holocaust victims were mainly Polish and German Jews killed in concentration camps.” Her stories explain why Soviet filmmakers almost never shared the Soviet Holocaust experience on the screen. Gershenson’s book has a partner website. Here you can find video clips of featured films, with subtitles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Fifty years of Holocaust screenplays and films -largely unknown, killed by censors, and buried in dusty archives – come to life in Olga Gershenson‘s The Phantom Holocaust: Soviet Cinema and Jewish Catastrophe (Rutgers University Press, 2013). As she ventures across three continents to uncover the stories behind these films, we follow her adventures, eager to learn what happened, why, when – and what comes next. This page-turning exploration begins with the first-ever films made about the Nazi threat to Jewish life in the 1930s – artistically successful movies released to crowded theaters in the USSR, Europe, and the US. The power of film being what it is, some 1930s viewers learned the lesson of Nazi hatred and fled to safety when Germany invaded the USSR in 1941. Immediately after the war, Soviet filmmakers again broke new ground when in 1945 they portrayed the Holocaust in “The Unvanquished.” The war just over, Soviet censors, Gershenson discovered, had no set policy and hardly knew how Stalin wanted them to respond. But the respected filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein supported the film, a movie featuring Jewish victims filmed on site in Kiev; it became one of the few Soviet movies that identified the Holocaust with Jews. Thereafter, the Holocaust would be a universal problem sans Jews that occurred anywhere but in the USSR. Among the stories that Gershenson relates, she raises the curtain on “Ordinary Fascism,” a blockbuster when it was released in the USSR in 1966. The three-hour black-and-white documentary montage, narrated by its famous director Mikhail Romm, apparently drew 20 million Soviets to cinemas before it was withdrawn. Gershenson describes Ordinary Fascism as “a real breakthrough,” “stunning,” and an explosion.” Romm’s irreverent, casual commentary to Nazi newsreels, footage, photos, and art explored the psychology of Nazism – and, viewers recognized, made Soviets reflect on themselves. Why did Soviet censors refuse to permit a book on the subject to be released? Censors explained that a film would be seen once and forgotten. A book, on the other hand, would start people thinking! As Gershenson explains: “Half of all Holocaust victims…were killed on Soviet soil, mostly in swift machine-gun executions. And yet, watching popular Holocaust movies…the impression is that Holocaust victims were mainly Polish and German Jews killed in concentration camps.” Her stories explain why Soviet filmmakers almost never shared the Soviet Holocaust experience on the screen. Gershenson’s book has a partner website. Here you can find video clips of featured films, with subtitles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices